Once Upon A Wonderland
by OTAKUbooknerd-OBN
Summary: School is hard. Especially for Wonderland, the elite boy "band" that has basically been forced together by threats of expulsion. Another slight problem would be that Alice, a normal girl, rejected one of them. And for her, life is already hard enough, considering the fact that she has an abusive father, and a sister who blames her for her moms death. A happy ending? Not likely.
1. Something's wrong with that bitch!

**...This is basically my first nKnA fanfic (besides the ones in my head) and so please no flaming? Positive and negative feed back is welcome, though! :) So, without further ado, I give you...**

**ONCE UPON A WONDERLAND!**

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_Once, so long ago that I can barely remember, I came up with a Wonderland. It was so beautiful that it hurt my eyes just to look at it. But then it, along with all my other childish dreams, disappeared. I thought I'd never see it ever again. And I didn't. But things like these have a strange way of coming back, a way that I would never have suspected..._

"B-Black...H-How could you?!" A curvy girl with long, wavy black hair sobbed, holding her face in her hands, _"Y-You broke my heart!"_

Black yawned, stretching his arms high above his head. "Did I? So sorry motherf***er. I had forgotten."

The girl looked up at him, hurt and surprise plainly obvious in her face, with fresh tears causing her generously applied mascara and other various makeup to run and smudge.

"B-But why would you do such a horrible thing?! I thought-I thought," Her lipstick-covered bottom lip trembled, "I thought you _loved_ me!"

"The f*** would I do that for?" Black cocked his head to one side, an openly disdained expression on his face.

The girl burst into tears again, (much to his displeasure) before running out of the room, probably going to be comforted by one of her idiotic friends.

"Slut." Black muttered under his breath. He exhaled slowly and glared at the abandoned music room the girl had dragged him to, probably because she assumed they were going to 'confess their love' or some other god dammed idea. It was all stupid really, the way girls fell for him and his brother with the barest twitch of a hand, a couple of whispered 'I love you's and they were all over the two twins, practically begging for their attention. And no matter how many girls they tricked, how many times they lied, all they had to say was 'I'm sorry' or 'all those other girls were just distractions, the one I really love is you'. It was just _that_ simple.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Black tensed, preparing for yet another stupid girl to come barreling inside.

"Hey." White, Black's twin brother, grinned slightly, "Nice to see you up and about."

"God dammit White, don't f***ing freak me out like that!" Black snarled, lashing out at for no reason.

White only raised his eyebrows slightly. "Someone's in a bad mood today..."

Black sighed and glared at the floor. "Some whore confronted me for f****ing with her 'precious emotions' or whatever."

White smiled sympathetically at him. "Sucks. But just think, pretty soon every single girl in the _entire school_ will have confessed her undying love to at least one of us. Pretty amazing when you really think about it." He smirked, "Wonderland is going to get _quite_ a shock, don't you think?"

Black allowed himself a small smile at the thought. Long ago, when he and White were in only ninth grade, they had made a decision: even though they were part of wonderland, school was too boring. They would have to add something to spice it up. So now, two years from the time they had begun, they had slowly convinced every girl in the entire school to f*** with them... Or at least to confess her undying love. Well, almost every girl. But not for long... Black was pretty sure that they only had one left, and winning her over would be _too_ easy. He almost wished that they had picked a more challenging goal. But as for the people in couldn't wait to see the look on their face. He was going to rub it in _so_ much...

White pushed off from the wall, and walked toward him, dodging a drum set in the process.

"What are you thinking about?"

Black voiced his thoughts out loud quickly, not willing to waste time discussing things with his brother.

"Too easy, eh? You're probably right..."

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**Alice**

Alice walked the carpeted halls of her school, trying her best to squeeze in between the other students without getting noticed. She hugged her drawing notebook to her chest, praying that she would make it to class on time. When she spotted the entrance to her next class, science, she hurried toward it, her hair swishing behind her.

"Hey there."

A boy with red hair stood in front of her, blocking the doorway of her classroom. She had seen him before; he was a member of Wonderland. Wonderland was basically just a fancy name for a bunch of good looking guys that had joined together to form a 'band'... Only she had never once seen, or heard about them ever performing. Also, before now, not a single one of them had ever once (to her knowledge) fraternized with... someone like herself.

"Excuse me." She muttered, trying to push past him.

But he wouldn't let her.

Instead of moving he turned toward her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"You know, this whole time, I've been watching you."

It was pretty obvious that he was just another one of those boys who were completely head-over-heels for Lorina, Alice's onee-san.

And Alice was sick of it.

"You know, there's a word for that. It's called stalking."

If she hadn't known better, she could've sworn the boy looked surprised.

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**White**

Waiting patiently for Black to finish, White leaned against a wall while watching the show curiously. It almost appeared as if the girl, whoever she was, didn't care about what Black was saying to her, but there was no way that was possible. Eventually, it came time for the end of their little facade, and Black leaned down to whisper something (likely a perverted something) into her ear.

White waited.

He waited for her face to turn red, for her to look at Black, blushing, with that look in her eyes that says 'oh Black I'm sooooooooo in love with you!'

Except it didn't happen. Instead, after she blushed, she scowled for a moment... before back-handing Black across the face.

"What part of 'go away' is too complicated for you?"

Then she spun on her heal and left.

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**Wonderland**

Elliot stared, open mouthed at the empty space where the strange girl had been.

A tiny smirk teased the corner of Blood's mouth.

Boris just grinned.

Goland took off his glasses, rubbed them off to clean them off, and then put them back on.

Julius tried to bite back a snicker- and failed.

Ace, on the other hand, threw back his head and laughed very loudly.

Peter had the look of a man in love.

Nightmare, after laughing and listening to Black's thoughts for a couple of seconds, paled considerably.

Gray eyes practically popped out of his head.

But all of them were thinking the same thing:

Who the hell is she?!

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**Black**

"God dammit, White you f***ing jinxed it!" Black scowled at his brother, rubbing the red slap mark on his cheek.

"Hello? Earth to White!" He waved his hand in front of his immobile twin's face, "This is where the phrase 'What the f***' would be appropriate. Hello? White? Hello?"

But White was too surprised to react. Instead he grabbed his brother to the music room (their usual hiding spot) and grabbed him by both shoulders.

"Black." He said slowly, "She. Just. Dumped. You. Loser girl just dumped you!"

White was now shaking him back and forth, as if trying to get him to understand.

"This has never, ever happened to us before! A-And the girl that it did happen with... She probably doesn't even have a boyfriend!"

Black stared back, the realization suddenly dawning on him. Breaking free of White's grasp, he walked over to the window, the pouring rain splattering the sill and running in rivulets down the window pain. It was as if the entire world was conspiring against him.

Finally, after standing there a moment he looked up at White, a fiery hatred burning him his eyes.

"There has _got_ to be something wrong with the bitch."

White nodded in agreement.

"So what the f*** do we f***ing do now?!"

With a sudden change of expression, White grinned.

"Now, Black, _now_... We get revenge!"

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**Lol... I wonder what their gonna do? No... Seriously... I have no idea. But remember humans, just cause the first chapter mainly centered on them doesn't mean the others aren't gonna be here! I just with the Jokers cause no one EVER starts with them in a AliceXAll fanfic... T-T and they're some of my favorite characters! Please review nya~!**


	2. I hate boys- especially Wonderland boys

**IMPORTANT VERY VERY IMPORTANT! Okay, so if you hate reading about violence and/or child abuse and think that no one should EVER write about it I suggest you skip ahead to the headline School. If you don't, you can't flame about it! I WARNED YOU! I also don't see why no one should write about it! NEWSFLASH PEOPLE! Acting like it doesn't exist WON'T MAKE IT GO AWAY! So meh. Heheheheheh. My god I'm so bored... And this chapter is horrible... I want to right more fun stuff! WAAAAAAAHHHHH!**

**...I'm talking to myself again. Sorry.**

**And, shit, I forgot disclaimer last time but I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! SO DON'T F***ING SUE ME! [Please]**

**The song is Kiss Me, Kill Me by Mest and is AMAZING and there is also a HnKnA video for it so I STRONGLY suggest you listen to it. Fans of MCR, (If you don't know what that means your not a fan) Three Days Grace, Fallout Boy, Imagine Dragons... There's like, a MILLION other bands I could name. Oh, and this stuff is no longer 'very very important', as you've probably figured out by now. One last thing... Pierce and Boris are NOT in a relationship (sorry to those that wanted it, but I have no idea how to write it LOL)!**

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"Lorina? Father? I-I'm home!" Alice held her breath, tiptoeing across the carpeted halls, toward the stairs and the way to her room.

"Alice." It was Lorina. Alice silently cursed herself for announcing her presence. She should have just stayed quiet. But there was still the possibility... Lorina wasn't facing her, she was looking at a painting that mother had hung up, a long time ago.

"H-Hello onee-san! How-?" But suddenly, Lorina whirled around, her beautiful face twisted in a snarl.

"I'm _not_ your onee-san!"

"R-Right! Sorry!" But Lorina wasn't finished.

"It's all your fault!" She gestured to the painting, "This is _all your fault!_! If you weren't here, everything would still be fine! It's thanks to _you_ that I don't have a mom!"

"Lorina..."

"And how do you think _I_ feel?! When all the other people in my class are talking about how _great_ their family is, and all I have is a drunk for a father and a _murderer_ for a sister!"

Alice flinched back as if she had been hit. But it was her fault, it was all her fault. She had killed mother. So she deserved it, her father, her sister, all of it...

"I'm sorry..." She bit her bottom lip, worrying it between her teeth.

"Sorry _isn't going to bring her back!_" Lorina's hand flew out and slapped Alice across the face.

The door to their father's room flew open.

"What the hell is going on here, dammit?!"

"F-Father?" Alice was sitting on the floor, holding her cheek.

"Father, Alice invited a boy over to our house without telling you!" Lorina pointed her finger at her accusingly.

"But-" Alice tried to get up, but she was cut off by another slap, this time, from her father. Gasping in pain, she fell back to the floor.

Lorina turned and went upstairs.

"I always knew..." Her father muttered under his breath, "Knew you were the evil one... All your fault.. Why..." He staggered toward her again, obviously drunk.  
"Why..? Why why why..." His foot collided with her ribs. Alice bit back a cry of pain.

"Your fault... All her fault... You f***ing ingrate!" He was kicking her again, his foot colliding over and over again with her ribs.

"She _died_ because of you! And yet you actually still have the _nerve_ to try to sneak a boy into my house!" Blood splattered on the wall behind her.

As the beating continued, Alice, for some strange reason, remembered song lyrics:

_This valentine is doomed..._

Her father grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth.

_The smell of blood has filled this room,_

He grabbed for his pocket knife, an instrument Alice was all too familiar with.

_If I could do it all again..._

Images of flashed through her head. Her and Lorina, laughing and hugging their Mother. Her Father laughing along with them. Her Mother in the hospital. Her sisters words 'it's all your fault!'

_I would change most every single thing._

Her father cut at her again, bringing her back to reality.

_I would let you-_

Suddenly, the phone rang.

And, grumbling to himself, her father left to answer it.

While he was gone, Alice managed to drag herself to her feet and forced herself to climb the stairwell to her room, in the attic. She slowly put her foot down on each wooden step, trying to keep them from squeaking and waking Lorina, who was probably already in bed. But she eventually reached the little wooden door that led to her room.

The attic space was supposed to be the worst room in the house, but Alice loved it. When you walked inside, you were met by several bookshelves and a little bed in the corner; there was also a bathroom that was connected only to her room, so no one else really knew that it existed. There was also a widow that Alice could reach and look out of, but only if she stood on the bed. When she had first moved in she had tried to make the room look prettier with decorative lamps and brightly colored curtains, but she had eventually gotten rid of all of it. Her room looked much better without all of the useless adornment.

Slipping of her shoes, she eased herself into the bathroom before carefully taking off her hoodie and uniform shirt. Looking in the mirror, she stared into the teal-blue eyes of a girl she barely recognized. Quickly, she looked away. She had always hated looking at herself, it made her feel strangely vain. That and the fact that she wasn't very pretty. Sighing, she forced herself to look in the mirror. There were ugly bruises adorning her body, turning her midriff a variety of different colors. She flinched. No matter how many times she saw them, she never got used to them.

But she deserved it. She deserved everything that happened to her. Because it was her fault, it was _all her fault..._

She jabbed a finger quickly into the bruise on her side; this wasn't the time to be spacing out! She then quickly-but efficiently-applied some kind of salve-lotion that she bought every time she went to the drug store. She wasn't really sure if it did anything, but she had been putting it on ever since the beatings started, so there was something oddly comforting in repeating the familiar motion. Next, she pulled out a box of band-aids and covered any cuts that had been made and/or opened. Finally finished, she put everything away before collapsing into bed. Her clock said 12:00. It was going to be hard to get up for school the next morning.

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**School**

Alice sighed and threw down her lunch. It had been a long day. Considering how many weird looks she'd gotten from people (and there had been a lot) her actions from yesterday hadn't been forgotten. Which really sucked, since she had actually forgotten about them herself. She sighed loudly and collapsed onto the ground next to her discarded food.

Big mistake.

"Ouch!" She yelped, gasping as a wave of fiery pain wrenched through her side.

Suddenly, the door slammed open.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH HH! PLEASE HELP ME! The cat wants me chu~!" Alice yelped in surprise as she was glomped by a strange, mouse-cosplaying boy.

"U-um... Hello...?"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Help me chu~!"

Alice rolled her eyes.

"...You're fine. Whoever the 'cat' is, I think they went away."

The mouse-boy looked at her with eyes filled with wonder. "Y-You saved me!"

"No not really-"

He peered closer into her face. "You're my savior! And you're really cute, too!"

Alice felt her face go warm and quickly turned away from the boy, who was crouching beside her, completely ignoring the fact that she _did_ have personal space. And that he was invading it.

"I-I'm Alice, A-Alice Liddell," she murmured softly, tugging up the hood of her hoodie.

His green eyes widened.

"So _your_ the girl everyone's been talking about! I'm Pierce Villers!"

He held out a hand for her to shake, which eventually, she did, though somewhat cautiously.

Pierce beamed at her happily for a moment before leaning toward her, taking up the tiny bit of space that Alice had managed to maintain between their faces.

"So Alice, can I kiss you chu~?"

A furious blush rose to her face.

"N-No! Of _course_ not!" She quickly shoved him away and glared at him, "And what did you mean by that?"

Pierce tilted his head to one side. "That? I meant that, sense your cute, I wanted to k-"

"No!" Alice said, shaking her hands back and forth in front of her face. "I meant the part where you said that everyone's been talking about me. I mean, surely, me hitting that weird boy in face isn't _that_ big a deal, right?"

"Oh Alice..." His mouse ears drooped as his face fell, "You really have no idea what you've done, haven't you?"

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, Black's one of the most powerful people in Wonderland."

_Black? That must be his name..._

"And that means...?"

Pierce sighed loudly, before opening his mouth to explain.

"There are lots of ranks in Wonderland! It's _supposed_ to be that the ones who've been in it for longest are the highest ranks, and the newer ones are the lowest."

"Oh. So when did this guy.. whatshisname... _Black_, join Wonderland?"

"...Two years before now."

"But that's hardly a long time at all!"

"I said _supposed_ to. It's _actually_ ranked on how dangerous they are! Which is why I'm the one with the lowest ranking..."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! _Your_ in _Wonderland_?! "

He shook his head sadly, "It wasn't _my_ fault... I just transferred in today, and the evil cat was chasing me, so I accidentally climbed onto the roof. And brought a teacher with me as a shield. But still! It was all _his_ fault!"

Alice raised her eyebrows and smiled a little; she hadn't noticed before, but he was actually really cute!

"Anyway, on with the story. So Black Joker and White Joker are two of the most dangerous people in Wonderland! They even have there own section in the dorms! For just two people! Oh, and they're twins too, so no one can ever tell them apart!"

She stared at him for a moment. "So now there are _two_ of them?! Wasn't one enough?!"

The mouse boy nodded solemnly, agreeing with her.

"And since they've never, ever been rejected by a girl before, they probably hate you right now. Gray says that you're either very, very brave or very, very stupid. He also says that you're probably both."

"...Great." Alice leaned her head back against the wall. She didn't particularly care anymore, she just wished that she had never, ever, slapped the idiot. But that look on his face... She giggled slightly, recalling the red-head's stunned expression, the way his single eye had bulged out slightly (He had been wearing an eyepatch, something Alice had not found weird at the time, but eventually, when looking back on it, assumed it was more cosplay. Oh _joy_.) and his mouth had opened in shock.

It was practically kind of worth it.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice when the door burst open and a crazy looking boy with _bright_ pink hair and-

_Where those cat ears?!_

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Help me! Alice-chan help me chu~!" Pierce hid behind her, clutching madly at her back.

Alice, in process of trying to Pierce off of her, suddenly froze.

_Earlier he said: 'The cat wants me!' Does that mean..._

Alice looked from the pink-haired cat boy to green-eyed mouse boy. Both cosplaying. And both, probably, in Wonderland. Could it be...? They were...

_They're in a relationship?!_

Her eyes widened as she began to imagine just what kind of things the cat-boy wanted. Poor Pierce...

"Alice!" Her head snapped up in surprise, she'd been so caught up in thinking about their relationship that she hadn't noticed that the cat-boy had gotten closer-much closer-to her and Pierce. He was now slowly walking towards them, his eyes narrowing as he spotted his prey...

Then he pounced.

Pierce screamed, thrashing against the onslaught that had suddenly caught him by surprise. Alice on the other hand could only thing one thing:

_Oh God... Not here... Not now... Not in public... Not in front of me!_

"H-Hey! Get off of him!" She attempted to shove the cat-cosplaying freak off of Pierce, but instead of falling off like she had hoped he would, he grabbed her arm to steady himself.

Alice yelped in surprise and tried to draw her arm back; but his grip was too strong, and he ended up falling off of Pierce and onto Alice. His torso banged painfully onto the bruises on her stomach, causing her to squeak and try to wiggle out of his grip.

"Wow... Sorry Alice! I guess I got a little carried away there, huh?"

Alice glared up at him, blushing, painfully aware of how close their faces were.

"Who are you and how the heck do you know my name?!" She snapped hotly.

He grinned at her, leaning in closer, which caused her to blush even harder.

"I'm Boris Airay. And the reason I know your name is because... Well, how could anyone _not_ know your name, you know, after what you did to Black?" His smile got even wider, "Not that I don't _fully_ support you doing what you did; as a matter of fact, I enjoyed it _immensely_!"

"Good to know." Alice struggled under him some more, "Now will you please get off of me?!"

"Awwwww... But why? Your so cute when your blushing like that!" His grin had transformed into a smirk and his face was still quite, quite close to hers.

"I _said_ get off of me!" With all of her strength, Alice gave him one last mighty shove, which sent him rolling off of her, laughing.

"Boris you jerk..." She mumbled under her breath.

"Your no fun, Alice~!"

Carefully, she pulled herself off her floor and dusted herself off.

"I have now decided that I hate, _hate_ boys. _Especially_ the ones from Wonderland." She scowled, glaring at Boris and Pierce.

Boris whistled slightly.

"You hate _us_?! Just wait until you meet the others!"

_The others... Oh, right._

Alice had almost forgotten the there were _others_. Four of them were more than enough for her; and if they were as bad as she suspected...

She suppressed a shiver.

"Now, even though I would _love_ to spend the day with you Alice-" He sent her a quick wink, "It's almost time for class and I have a mouse to chase. So goodbye!"

Pierce gave a shriek and ran out the door. Boris started to follow him, but then paused at the doorway.

"Oh, and Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"I will _definitely_ be _catching_ you later. No pun intended." Then, with one last grin, he turned and slipped out of the door.

Alice moaned and fell back against the wall.

_Crazy, stuck up Joker twins and creepy, perverted cosplayers. That may, or may not be in a sexual relationship._

She _definitely_ didn't want to meet anyone else from Wonderland. And if she ever saw _any_ of them again, it would be all too soon.

Sighing, she bent down and picked up her uneaten lunch, tossing it and its contents into the trash. She hadn't really been that hungry anyway. With that done, she turned toward the door and was about to leave when, suddenly, she bumped into the chest of a man with red eyes and brown hair.

She recognized him.

He was from Wonderland.

_Oh God, not again!_

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**Meh. I'm not too happy on how this chapter turned out... But after she meets all ta characters, that's where the real fun begins! X3 This should be entertaining... Oh, and thanku to everyone who reviewed and read my story! Your all epical! XD XD**


	3. Stalkers, twins, and MORE cosplayers!

**Okay.. So, people, sup? Did you guys know that Joker no Kuni no Alice came out in the US a while ago?! SQEEEEEEEUUUUAAAAA! (Insert loud fangirly voice here) But I'm not allowed of get it... My parents are, like incredibly strict when it comes to that kinda stuff. I can't buy any manga without them examining it. Blargh. I hope it'll come out on the net soon... Feh. But ANYWAYS, I hired the invisible fairies that only exist inside my mind to get some of the no kuni no characters (I know, I had to hire them. Even though I'm their creator! Selfish little bastards they are...) So, here we go...**

**Black: the f***?!**

**Blood: Hat-man?! Really?!**

**Alice: Yay! I insult Blood! Inside my head, but still!**

**Black: That's the first good thing you've done all day, you little slut.**

**Alice: (Sticks tongue out at Black)**

**Blood: Essu doesn't own us. God help us if she did**.

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Alice yelped and tried to leap backwards, out of harms way, but her foot caught and she stumbled and fell. The man reached out just in time, his strong arms closing around her waist.

"Are you okay there?" He had a huge grin that, for some reason, was strangely infuriating.

"I-I'm fine." Alice blushed furiously.

_I've probably blushed more today than I have in my entire life._

She quickly righted herself and glared at the floor directly behind the boy, who, though he had let go of her, was still too close for her liking.

_What is it with these people and personal space?!_

"So... I don't suppose you know who I am?" He cocked his head to one side, continuing to beam at her.

She shook her head, already formulating a plan. She would excuse herself, move past him as quickly as possible, and then get to class.

"Thought not! My name's Ace, it's nice to meet you Alice~!"

"I'm not even going to ask..." Alice sighed and shook her head, "Well, it was nice meeting you Ace! But I have to get to class now, so goodbye!" She began to move past him, but he put a hand up to block her.

Raising his eyebrows he said, "You're going to class? I figured you were skipping!"

"And what on Earth made you think that?"

"...Wasn't that just the five minute bell?"

Sure enough, when Alice looked at the clock it said that there were five minutes before class... And less by the second.

"Oh dammit! What am I going to do?! I've never, ever been late before! _Ever_!"

Ace looked at her in exaggerated surprise. As a matter of fact, she was beginning to suspect that every little change on his face was over done. A lot.

"You've never skipped class before?! You should! It's fun~!"

Alice was beginning to have a very bad feeling...

"I know! Let's skip class together!" His smile grew even wider, if that were possible.

"I know! Let's not." She deadpanned, glaring at him.

"But why not~? Alice would have fun!"

"No, I would most certainly _not_. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be late for biology." Once again, she tried to push past him, but he put out his hand to stop her.

"Great! I have biology to!"

"Lucky. Me." Alice muttered under her breath.

"Hey, I've already made you late to class, so-"

"For the last time, _no_!"

He laughed, "Thought not. But at least let me show you a short cut! It'll be fun, and by the way we're taking, you won't be late to class!"

Alice cocked her head to one side and bit her bottom lip, considering his proposition.

"So... You mean a compromise?"

"Yep~!"

_So then this guy, _Ace _will leave me alone, and I won't be late to class? It doesn't sound too bad..._

"Great! Let's go!"

_What is he, telepathic or something?_

He smirked in triumph and grabbed her arm, pulling her out the door and along the wide halls of the school. Pretty much everyone had left, but the couple of people which were still at their lockers gave them odd looks. Alice tugged at her hood self-consciously.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Huh?"

"Tugging on your hood like that. Why are you doing it?"

"Oh, it's... um..." Alice restrained herself from tugging on it again, "A habit."

He nodded with a quick sound of agreement before pulling her around yet another corner, apparently completely absorbed in finding his shortcut.

Which, by the looks of it, wasn't very short.

"Ace?"

"Yeah?"

She glanced around quickly before planting her feet on the ground and refusing to move.

"Ace, class is about to start. And we're farther away from it than we were in the first place!"

"Oh, are we?" He laughed, "I must have gotten lost again! Sorry. But here, let me make it up to you!"

Once again, he grabbed her arm and begin to drag her through the school.

"Ace!" She tried to yank her arm back, but to no avail, "Ace let go!" Finally, with a monster effort she yanked her arm back out of his hand, but she had a strange feeling that he had let go of her on purpose.

"Awwwwww... Alice you're no fun~!"

Alice just glared at him, as she doubled over, trying to catch her breath.

"Still, if you think I'm lost, think again! Here's the biology classroom right here!" Dragging her behind him as if she were a rag-doll, he pulled open the door to...

_...Oh shit._

"Ace!" She hissed, trying once again to pull her arm from his, "This isn't biology!"

As a matter of fact, it most certainly wasn't biology. Instead, Ace had dragged her into a certain abandoned music room, where Wonderland usually had its meetings. This wouldn't be a problem if they met before or after school, but, unfortunately for Alice, they didn't. A long time ago, Wonderland had decided that school was pointless and unnecessary (considering the fact that most everyone in the entire organization is rich) and that instead of giving up precious free time, why not give up useless school? That way, fangirls (and/or fanboys) couldn't watch them practice.

And, unfortunately for Alice, their meetings were held during fourth period. And, for her, this was biology.

The girl yanked at Ace's hand again, but it seemed that when he wanted it to, his grip was impossible to break. She heaved a sigh and glanced around her surroundings.

In one corner there was a man with long blue hair, staring at her in surprise. As a matter of fact, almost everyone in the entire room looked surprised, except for Ace and...

_What the hell?!_

Alice gasped in shock.

_It's him._

But there was no way, just no way it could be him!

_But it is!_

There, in the corner, stood a man wearing a ridiculous hat with scarlet rose decorations. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing a suit, she would've assumed he was a cross-dresser. That and the fact that he looked exactly like...

_Calm down, Alice. Your fine. There is absolutely no way he would wear a hat like that. And besides, this guy is in Wonderland, so he's probably a complete..._

The man, noticing her gaze, smirked and raised his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She felt a familiar heat rising in her cheeks.

_...Bastard_.

Pulling on the hood of her sweatshirt, she scowled at him before clearing her throat and taking a closer look at the members. There was Boris, (who was grinning at her) Pierce, (who was hiding from Boris) Black and his twin brother (who were both having totally different reactions; while Black was glaring at her, while the other one was smiling cheerfully) an orange haired man with rabbit ears, (another cosplayer. Wonderful. But at least he didn't look mean) the rude, black-haired man with the hat, (Alice made sure not to look at him for even a fraction of a second) more twins, (but unlike the others, these were to adorable little boys... They didn't seem too bad) a man with long blue hair, (a wig? There was just no way someone's hair could look that amazing... Especially a boy's.) a beautiful women with long purple hair, (Possibly the only girl in Wonderland) and finally, yet another cosplayer (this was just getting better and better) with white hair and white rabbit ears, and two silver-haired guys, (One of them looked mysterious and the other one looked kind of scary) One had an eyepatch and the other had a black lizard tattoo on the back of his neck.

Alice stood there awkwardly for a moment, before everything exploded.

"ALICE!" Pierce, Boris, and... The white eared man(?!) were running toward her at full speed.

She barely had time to cover her face when she was glomped by three people, one of which she didn't even know. She slammed into the floor, (she seemed to be doing that a lot, lately) giving a slight moan of pain when her side protested against the contact. She struggled feebly underneath then for a moment, before looking up at the sound of someone laughing. Of course, it was Ace.

"Ace, I thought this was a shortcut to biology. Not to your rehearsal or whatever this is!"

"Is Alice mad at me~?"

"Ace. You are so dead." She seethed, glaring at him angrily.

Boris straitened up, grinning down at her, "Boy... If looks could kill!"

She scowled even harder before kicking Pierce and the creepy man off of her.

"Quick question... Who are you?!" She stood up and brushed herself off before addressing the bunny-man (as she had begun to call him in her mind).

"A-Alice... Y-You don't know who I am?!"

"...am I suppose to?"

"B-But I'm Peter! Peter White! Surely you recognized me immediately! After all, we are in love. And since you obviously came here to see me..."

Alice raised her eyebrows giving Peter a you're-creeping-me-out look, "Since _when_?!"

He smiled dreamily at her, "First sight! I saw you, and knew I was in love! And you saw me and-"

"I was seriously _disturbed_." She deadpanned, "Rabbit man.. _Peter_, I am _not_ in love with you!"

"What?! But-But... My darling Alice! I love you!"

"You don't even know me!"

"But I want to!" He insisted.

She a sigh and glared at him, "Look, Peter... I don't love you. I don't know you! You can't 'be in love' with someone you don't _know_!"

"But you came here to-"

"And I did not come here to see you! The only reason I came here-" She glared at Ace, "-was because this idiot got me lost!"

Ace grinned stupidly at her, "Alice is so mean~!"

Suddenly a cool soprano voice sounded, almost like the chiming of bells. If bells could have emotions. And were in a very violent mood.

"Who is this?" The purple-haired female, who was speaking looked angry, "We were in the middle of directing a rehearsal! Does this person dare interrupt Us?! We declare that her head be cut off!"

"Wh-What?" Alice stared at her, alarmed.

The strange women stepped toward her, leaving the loose ring of Wonderland that had gathered around Alice. "Hmmmmmmmmm..." She murmured, observing the blonde's hoodie, uniform skirt, and crooked bow. "We take it back. Your are cute so you will join Us for tea."

"Wait... What?!"

"You heard Us! Oh, and Our name is Vivaldi. We will not tolerate idiotic boys or annoying girls. We will see you at Our house at eight."

"E-Eh?!"

"Good. We are glad that you will come. Goodbye, than."

"But... Hey, wait!" The girl reached after her, as if to stop her progress toward the door.

But, in a swirl of skirts and purple hair, Vivaldi had already left.

It had been a long day, and Alice was seriously pissed off. She crossed her arms over her chest and, addressing the rest of Wonderland, snapped, "Well?! Does anyone else have something to add?!"

Slowly, almost timidly, the orange rabbit eared man came forward. "U-Um... My name is Elliot March! It's nice to meet you Alice!" He held out his hand for her to shake.

Her horrible mood brightened considerably, "It's nice to meet you, Elliot!" Smiling warmly, she shook his hand.

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Meanwhile, in the back of the room, Black leaned over and hissed in his brother's ear:

"Bipolar f***ing much?!" Before turning and stomping out of the room. His twin brother laughed slightly, Black could get so mad over the simplest of things. Such as the fact that they hadn't had their revenge yet.

But they would, soon...

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Alice was busy shaking hands, exchanging smiles, glaring at hat-man (the black-haired man's insulting nickname; courtesy of herself), and ignoring Peter, who was sulking in the corner. But not so busy that she didn't notice Black's glare out of the corner of her eye. She also covertly watched him from behind her hair as he stormed out of the room.

_Good riddance!_

She thought, scowling.

As she reached for another hand she noticed in surprise that it was Black's twin brother. She immediately stiffened, but when he smiled kindly at her she eventually reached out and took his hand.

"Hello! My name is White... And I trust you probably know me from my twin brother, Black? I apologize for any, erm, _inconveniences_ he may have caused you... He didn't mean anything by it, he was just bored." He flashed her a winning smile, "Not that you aren't quite attractive, young lady."

Alice felt the corners of lips twitch upwards. She couldn't help it; his smile was contagious.

He started to say something else, but was cut off.

"Onee-san?"

The boy she now new as Dee's voice sounded from directly below her, he was clinging to her uniform skirt.

"Yes?" The girl smiled down at him. He and his twin brother, Dee, were definitely some of her favorite members of Wonderland. They were sweet, little, and not to mention adorable!

"Onee-san, play with us!" Sang Dum grabbing one of her arms as Dee grabbed onto the other.

"Um... I really don't think-"

"Get away from here you little brats!" Elliot had grabbed both twins by their ears and was dragging them away from Alice, "You're not supposed to be slacking anyways!"

She cocked her head to one side curiously, "Slacking?"

"We weren't slacking stupid chickie rabbit!"

"Yeah! We were just trying to play with our onee-san!"

They struggled in his grip as he glared at them.

"Yes you were! And I am _not_ a rabbit!"

Dee and Dum finally broke free of his grip and ran behind Alice, their hands gripping at her skirt.

"Yes-!" Began Dum, pulling down on his bottom eyelid.

"-you are!" Finished Dee, sticking his tongue out.

Elliot glared at them with fire in his eyes fisting up his hands as if to punch them.

"I am _not_!"

"Yes you _are_!"

"I am NOT!"

"Yeah you _are_! Stupid newbie hare!"

"I-!"

Then, for the first time that day, hat-man detached himself from the wall. The minute he moved, both Elliot and the twins fell silent, Elliot looking embarrassed and the twins looking worried.

Alice, however, looked irked. She had disliked hat-man from the very start, he seemed arrogant and very used to getting what he wanted. These qualities were the exact picture of what Alice thought would make up a 'stuck-up rich kid'.

Except for his face.

Every time Alice so much as glanced at him, she ended up struggling to drag her eyes away. He looked exactly-_exactly_-like her ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, though, every time she _did_ end up staring he would (undoubtedly) notice and, somehow, managed to send her words through his facial expression:

_Are you checking me out? Sorry, but you don't have a prayer._

It drove her absolutely insane.

So, when he came toward them, fancy rich-person cane in hand, she wasn't very happy. Half of her wanted to scream:

_What is your problem?!_

While the other half of her wanted to tell him:

_I don't like you! You just look exactly like someone I know! So stop looking at me like I do!_

Fortunately for her, they pretty much canceled each other out.

As the hat-man got closer to her, she made sure that she was only looking at the wall (were Peter was sulking) and absolutely no where near hat-man's face, but he (despite all of her precautions) seemed to give off waves of pure and utter disdain.

Ignoring him was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life.

"My my... Fighting again, are we? Don't you know better? After all, you're probably disturbing the young miss!"

The young miss?!

What was he doing, insulting her?! She cautiously turned to face him, her suspicion clear on her face.

"My name is Blood Dupre. I don't believe we've met." His smile was as cold as his eyes.

Alice carefully out her smaller hand in his gloved one, biting her bottom lip, "It's nice to meet you."

_Hat-man!_

She mentally added, smirking to herself ever so slightly. Even if she couldn't insult him outright, she could still have that small victory.

She let go of his hand and studied his face again. He really did look exactly like her ex...

She remembered him in flashes. Smiling at her, holding her hand, putting his arm around her shoulder...

Smiling at _Lorina_, holding _Lorina's_ hand, putting his arm around _Lorina's_ shoulder...

"You're staring at me." Hat-man smiled slightly, examining her from under his half-lidded eyes.

Alice felt her face flush slightly.

"You look _exactly_ like someone I knew. That's _all_."

"Oh." Was it just her, or did he almost sound disappointed?

"A past lover, I take it?" He took a step closer, still with an openly suggestive look on his face.

"Wha-?!" That girl squeaked in surprise, practically jumping a foot up into the air, "N-NO! Wh-Why would you think that?""

Bloo- _Hat-man_ stalked even closer to her and lightly slipped a hand along her arm.

She blushed harder and tried to covertly brush it off.

Hat-man smirked, "No reason."

_Damn him._

"And young miss?"

Alice bit down in her bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood, "Y-Yes?"

He held something out to her, his smirk seeming to get even wider.

"You'll be needing this."

She scowled and glared at the offending slip of paper, not at all eager to take it.

"What is it?"

"It's directions to Vivaldi's house. You are going, aren't you?"

"Well... Not really. I mean, I didn't exactly _say_ I was going and-"

"Does the young miss prefer her head attached to her shoulders, or rolling about on the floor?"

The blonde glared at him. "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Rea-ha-tomical? What's that?" Boris cut in, pausing long enough in his chase with Pierce to make sure he had not been forgotten by Alice.

She moaned loudly and face palmed. "Boris, how old are you?" When he opened his mouth to answer, she waved her hands in front of her face, cutting him off. "Wait, you know what? Nevermind. I don't want to know."

"My point is," Blood continued, turning his now icy glare at Boris and Alice in turn, effectively silencing them,"That it would probably be a good idea to succumb to her majesty's whims." He (once again) began to smirk.

"Unless you really do prefer the idea of your head rolling about on the ground?"

She answered him with a glare, scowling indignantly, "Fine. Whatever. I'll go."

"Good." He flashed her a grin that was all teeth and pressed the slip of paper into one of her hands before turning on his heel and walking away.

"Elliot. Dee, Dum. Come."

Hat-man waved his hand at the three without pausing, ignoring the fact that Elliot and the twins were practically tripping over each other trying to follow him.

_Show-off._

"Right. I-It was nice meeting you all. Goodbye." Alice's natural shyness was back in place, and there was no way she was going to stay in a room with that many people for any longer. She turned and slipped out of the door, ignoring Peter's attempts at following her and (more pressingly) worrying about her trip to Vivaldi's house.

_Well... It can't be that bad, can it?_

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**Yes, I do realize this took me FOREVER but it's, like, 3,000 words so...**

**Invisible fairies that only exist inside my head: It could've been a LOT longer. You just got lazy.**

**Me: Whatever. I don't give a crap.**

**Fairies: (sighs...) Essu is soooooo annoying. We apologize if she never updates.**

**Me: THAT'S IT! Person with most helpful review gets these useless... THINGS!**

**Fairies: but.. We only exist inside your head!**

**Me: And?**

**Fairies: but... If we're not here, who will force you to do updates?**

**Me: (Thinks for a moment) Hmmmmmm... (Suddenly, eyes light up) N-No one! (Insert seen of me dancing through beautiful meadow with tons of free time here)**

**Fairies: ...exactly. - -; **


	4. Vivaldi, Friendship-- Boring Topics

**Announcements, everyone! Doubtlessly, a million-trillion-gazillion of you are going to be pissed after reading this chapter. The reason is this: This entire chapter is boring. I repeat; Bo-ring. The only point of this chapter was to get Alice to the castle so that she can re-meet Blood in the next one... Yesh humans, zis is simply a part of my evvvviiiil plan... Mha ha ha haaaa! The reason there is so much AliceXBlood in the next chapter because I have decided to stick in AliceX moments which ever character, that and Blood has to have a reason to dislike Alice and call her a slut at ever given moment...**

**Blood: A reason? I already HAVE a reason. And that is the fact that Alice is, indeed, a slut.**

**Alice: Shut up, _hat-man_.**

**Me: Another reason is because Blood just HAS to find out what Alice calls him in his head... Heh heh heh...**

**Alice: Why are you talking about the next chapter? After all, you did roasted every person whom is reading this' time and effort.**

**Me: Right... Sorry! Next chapter will be better, I promised! It's about-**

**Blood: They already now! **

**Alice: Essu-chan doesn't own any of the nKnA series...**

**Blood: ...But feel free to sue her.**

**Me: HEY!**

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"Urgh..." Alice moaned, pausing for a moment to massage her aching feet. The directions hat-man had given her to get to Vivaldi's house were far from clear, and though Ace and Peter both had offered to be her guide, she had decided against it.

That and the fact that she had never, ever, been to this part of town.

Taking in her surroundings, the blonde sighed. She was completely surrounded by huge, fancy houses with tall windows and doors. Everything was big, extravagant, and expensive. Hat-man, of course, had told her that the house was the biggest one on the block... Yet all of the houses appeared of be the same size. She had been walking for hours up and down the same street, searching for 'the biggest house' in an entire neighborhood of 'biggest houses'.

_Forget about a needle in a haystack this is like searching for a needle in a pile of needles!_

She didn't even want to be here! She had either wanted to go to work (she had an after school job that allowed her two free days per week. She usually didn't know when to take free days, but that didn't mean that she had wanted to spend them like this!) or stay after school to finish the work she needed to make up for missing class. Unfortunately, she couldn't use that as an excuse to stay away from Vivaldi, considering her teacher hadn't been happy about her skipping. Oh no, she hadn't been happy at all. She's been absolutely _giddy_. Alice had never skipped class before, and considering she was slightly... _antisocial_, her teaches were always bothering her to go make friends. She also always got perfect grades, so her teachers didn't mind her missing a class or two.

She frowned, harder than she already was, and continued scanning over the buildings. Finally, something caught her eye. At the end of the road there a was a really big house. No, a castle. It was covered in hearts, roses, and other various shiny and expensive-looking things. It was so tall the top appeared to disappear into the clouds... Of maybe that was just her imagination. All around it a huge yard, complete with perfect looking red roses, a fancy archway, and rose bush maze, lead up to the main house. The doorway was a work of art in itself, intricate carvings (mainly existing of hearts and roses) wound up twin columns and found their way on to the handles of the doors. All of this was a lovely pure white marble along with red and pink accents, except for the door. This was made out of a beautiful, dark wood which was (probably) mahogany. Or some other nice wood that Alice didn't know of. This too, was carved with hearts and roses, which appeared to be the recurring theme of the... House? Somehow, calling the gorgeous structure a house just didn't seem right.

_There's no way..._

Hat-man had said that the house was big, but... He had never said anything about it being a castle!

_I'll just go and ask for directions. That's all. I don't _really_ suspect that it's Vivaldi's house._

Biting her bottom lip, the girl straightened out her uniform skirt and fixed her bow before tugging up the hood of her sweatshirt. Then, working up her courage, she took a deep breath and walked toward the maze.

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"Right this way, miss Alice." A solider, who wore a red uniform with a tall black hat, bowed carefully to her, making sure that they never made eye contact.

"Um... Th-Thank you? Y-You can stop bowing to me now." She tugged on the hood of her sweatshirt, covering her eyes.

Ever since she had entered the building, random soldiers had been bowing to her, calling her 'miss' and other fancy names and, all in all, treating her with perfect, complete and utter... _Respect_. It was disturbing. And she hated it.

"Miss Alice, please come this way." The soldier called to her softly, almost imploringly, as if he were begging her to follow him.

"Er... Right," She had absolutely no idea how all of them knew her name. Unless she was wrong, and this actually _was_ Vivaldi's house... which absolutely impossible. There was just no way, no way, that Vivaldi lived here. She refused to even entertain the possibility.

The inside of the castle was pretty much the same as the outside. Beautiful. It looked like something out of a fairytale. As she slipped up the stairs, gorgeous red carpets and vases full to the brim of red roses shone on polished wooden tables. All of it practically screamed perfect.

So perfect it was almost scary.

Soon, they made it to a spiral staircase which led up to long corridors. After walking through the endless pool of red for what seemed like forever, they finally made it to a tall, white door with (if it were even possible) more red rose patterns than ever before seen by _anyone_.

The solider raised the great golden door-knocker and let it go with a resounding thud. He looked nervous.

_Remember the plan, Alice! Go in, get directions, and get out._

"Come in!"

Came the call from inside, a soprano voice that seemed to echo off the stone walls, making it sound all the more intimidating.

The solider nodded to Alice.

"Well than Miss Alice, I'll just be going now! I hope you and her majesty have a wonderful time!" Then, turning on his heel, he practically ran down the hall and away from the blonde haired teen.

"What are you waiting for?! We said too come in!" The voice of 'Her Majesty' (as the solider had called her) sounded very impatient. And Alice did not want to anger, whomever she may be, this 'Her Majesty'.

So, not giving herself time to think, the girl closed her eyes and pushed open the door.

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Her Majesty's bedroom was not at all like Alice had imagined it. Instead of being the perfect, intimidating queen's chamber she had envisioned, it was adorable girl's bedroom. Stuffed animals littered the floor and mounded on the bed and chairs. The closet was full to the brim of cute dresses...

"We are glad that you have come." The girl whipped her head around to see Vivaldi, decked in a beautiful red gown, sitting on the floor playing with a particularly adorable teddy bear.

_So it was her house! _

She quickly tried to hide her surprise.

_Be polite, just be polite and everything will be fine._

"U-Um... Er... N-Not to rude b-but why did you invite me here?" Alice managed out, still extremely worried.

Vivaldi continued on, ignoring the blonde girl, "No matter how many times We invite cute girls over our house, they never come. We are always left up waiting for them until an indecent hour."

"I-I'm sorry to hear that..."

The purple-haired woman pouted, glaring at the wall, "Even though We go through all of this preparation... Making sure that we had enough cute dresses for them to try on."

"Wh-What?"

"But no matter!" She brightened considerably, "Alice is here with Us now so We will not dwell upon these things!"

"Good idea...?"

Vivaldi nodded, "We always have good ideas. Now, come with Us to the closet!"

Reaching out, she gripped the teen's hoodie-clad arm and dragged her toward the huge walk-in closet.

"W-Wait! What's going on?!"

Either the woman hadn't heard her, or just didn't care because she continued walking as if Alice hadn't said anything.

"Now here is where We have spent the majority of Our time picking out dresses for you! You will find what we've picked out right here..." She gestured toward a giant pile of multi-colored dresses, all of which seemed like they would cover too little for Alice's tastes.

_She said for me...?_

There was no way she could put them on. Partly because ninety-nine percent of them were indecent, and partly because...

One or two of them might uncover her bruises.

Biting her bottoms lip uncomfortably, the blonde haired girl frowned a Vivaldi, who was busy examining the dresses and Alice, as if deciding which would look best on her.

"Um... Excuse me, V-Vivaldi?" Somehow, calling her by her first name seemed disrespectful, "I don't think it would be such a good idea if I tried on the dresses..." Vivaldi gave her a horrified look of anger, and she quickly backtracked, trying frantically to come up with an excuse,"I-I mean... I'm all dirty form traveling here and I would hate to get them dirty!" She blurted quickly, hoping that the women would fall for it. Unfortunately, she didn't.

"Oh. That is all you are worried about? You had Us worried for a minute." Yanking on the girl's hand she began to drag her toward a monstrous bathroom that was made entirely out of white marble.

_Oh no._

"W-Wait! I mean, it's fine!"

"No no, you are correct. We think you will look cuter if you are clean. Now get undressed."

"B-But..."

"Before I make you," She finished.

Alice gulped.

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The sound of running water filled her ears as Alice, wrapped in a towel, lowered herself into the bath. A rushing torrent of water gushed from the shining facet, dampening her towel and causing it to cling to her in a very immodest fashion.

"You have nice curves. We wonder why you always cover them up with your horrible sweatshirt." Vivaldi, who had followed her in, observed, scrutinizing her carefully, "Oh well. No matter. Now we want you to take off your towel, too."

The younger girl didn't comply, instead a tomato blush spread over her features and she tugged on the fabric, pulling it tighter around her body.

"We said take it off! We're both girls and We will look away, We promise." As if to prove her point, the purple-haired woman stood and faced the doorway back into her room.

Sighing in defeat, Alice slipped off her towel and put it on the side of the tub, sliding deep into the water and hoping there was enough bubbles to cover the bruises on her midriff. And not a second too late, for as soon as Vivaldi heard the piece of fabric hit the side of the tub, she spun around and began rolling up her sleeves before opening one of the many bottles of various liquids and stooping to kneel beside the tub. She then dumped the blue contents of the bottle in her hand, before working it into a lather and scrubbing it into Alice's hair.

"Ow...Ow!" Alice swatted at the woman's hand, which was still pulling through her hair in a rather painful manner, "I can do that myself, thanks!"

Vivaldi gave an exaggerated sigh, "No, you probably can't. Have you ever seen this type of product before?"

When Alice gave no answer, and instead looked away, pouting, Vivaldi snorted.

"That's what I thought!" She said triumphantly before continuing to scrub at the teen's hair.

For Alice, the bath seemed to take forever. First, Vivaldi washed her hair with so many products that she lost count of them all. Then, Vivaldi gave her a washcloth, rubbed a certain kind of soap onto it, and ordered her to scrub her body. This repeated several times, each with a different brand of soap. Eventually, when Alice was just thinking that it would never end, Vivaldi announced the true reason behind all of her primping.

"You are going to accompany Us on the school field trip."

The girl stared at her in surprise, "The _what_?!"

"Field trip, of course. To the beach. You will be accompanying Us, Our brother, and the rest of Wonderland."

"Errr.. Actually, I wasn't really planning on going, so-"

Vivaldi gave her a look, silencing her. She sighed slightly, before opening her mouth to explain, "Vivaldi-"

"Do not call Us that. It makes Us feel like We are a stranger to you. You will call Us Vivi."

Alice froze.

_'It makes Us feel like We are a stranger to you.'_

"So... Does that mean..." Her eyebrows crinkled and she looked at the older woman in confusion.

"Does that mean what?"

"A-Are we... f-friends...?"

Vivaldi face-palmed, groaning loudly, "Well, obviously! We do not invite people over to Our house if We do not want to be their friend! We wonder what kind of strange world you come from."

But Alice wasn't listening. All she could think about was the single word Vivaldi-Vivi-had used.

_Friend._

It had been three years since she had last had someone had said it to her. And, for some odd reason, it made her insanely, ridiculously happy.

She smiled to herself slightly.

"Why are you smiling? Did something We said amuse you?"

Alice's smile changed from a tiny pull at the corner of her lips to a full out grin, "Nope! Nothing at all, Vivi."

"We are glad, then. Here-," Vivaldi stood up, washed her hands, shook them off, and then went outside the bathroom. When she returned underwear in one hand, and Alice's bow in the other, "Put these on."

The girl stared at them for a moment, before biting her bottom lip in confusion, "Why not my school uniform? Why my bow? ...And what about my hoodie?!"

Vivaldi sighed, completely blowing off Alice's comment, before pulling out a white bottle of lotion.

"Get out of the bath. You may wrap yourself in the towel."

"But Vivi-"

The purple haired woman quickly grabbed a red, heart embroidered towels from one of the many spaces beneath the sink. Then, she walked over to the side of the tub and handed it to Alice.

The blonde rolled her eyes, grabbing the towel and getting out of the bath before scrambling to cover herself.

Vivaldi, still holding the lotion, turned around to face the wall, "Put your underwear on!"

"O-Okay..." Alice finished drying herself off, ringing out her hair quickly before complying.

"Good." Vivaldi said, turning back around. The other girl squeaked in surprise and tried to cover herself, blushing, but the woman paid no heed and instead squirted some of the lotion into the palm of her hand before walking toward Alice, who was still desperately trying to cover herself.

_She can't see my bruises... She can't! Its been such a long time since I was over to another person's house... She just _can't_!_

Fortunately for Alice, the shower room was still extremely misty, and Vivaldi could barely tell where the blonde was, let alone see the details of her midriff. So, closing the distance between them, Vivaldi quickly but efficiently covered every inch of Alice's exposed skin in lotion, rubbing it in thoroughly. When she reached the stomach area, Alice had to bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain, but she managed. She always did.

Finished with her work, Vivaldi stood back and smiled, "Now, We will have to leave for a while, but We are sure you will be fine in here without us. Go ahead and pick out whichever dress you would like. We hope We will be able to return soon..." She frowned deeply, glaring at the wall, "We would like you to know, though, that We are glad you have come. We have invited lots of other girls in the past but... None of them ever came. They always blew us off. And do not tell Our brother this, but-" She leaned over to whisper in the other girl's ear, the soft ringlets of her purple hair lightly brushing her shoulder, "We were very lonely! So thank you for coming."

And with that, she turned and left.

Alice sighed softly, smiling at her eccentric friend. Perhaps she wasn't the only one who had problems making friends. She left the bathroom, her feet leaving wet footprints on the tiles as she walked. Once she was out of the bathroom and back into Vivaldi's room she began searching through the dresses until she found one that suited her tastes. It was light blue, with an attached apron and striped stockings (she had found these with the outfit). It was the least showy of all of them, it stopped directly above her knees and didn't have a low-cut collar. Finally, she sat down onto Vivaldi's stuffed-animal-covered bed, running her hand over the velvet red bedspread. Sighing contentedly, she leaned back onto the mattress, enjoying the slight rose scent that seemed to linger on everything in the castle.

_I wonder who Vivaldi's brother is... Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough..._

The soft cushions seemed to envelop her, enticing her with their delicious scent.

_I'll just close my eyes for a minute... I won't go to sleep... I'll stay up and wait for Vivaldi..._

And with that final thought, her closed and she drifted off to sleep.

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**Heh heh heh... Oh Alice, dear, you'll be finding out who her brother is sooner than you thought! But anyways, wasn't that boring? But this is (I think) the last introductory chapter; pretty soon we'll get to the interesting stuff! And as for those who say 'We do not find THAT interesting!'... Well lemme just say...**

**YOU KNOW YOU WAAAAAAAAANT IT! ;) ;) After all, that IS the whole purpose of nKnA, isn't it?**


	5. I Hereby Dub Thee Hat-man!

**Finally, this chapter's up... YAY! Oh, and BTW someone on zis no Kuni no thingy must update nya! I hash been searching and searching for new fanfics NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Alas, I has been forced to go to avatar the last airbender (not bad at all, actually I is doing fanart for it lol) to read Zutara fanfics! So if you have a recommendation, go ahead and tell me, I'd lurv to read it! Oh, and what did you think of my text grammar? Someone texted me with that one time... It was a random girl from school and our conversation was hilarious, it went something like this:**

**Other persons: Hiya Gurlie! Plz plz vote 4 me in election! I'd lve to be ur new prez! Itd be fab so much!**

**Me: ...I was actually already going to vote for you.**

**Other person: OMG U R?! Thnx it means soooooooooo much 2 me! Thts gr8!**

**Me: Your welcome.**

**Other person: haha thnx again byebye Gurlie!**

**Me: *no answer***

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Blood swiftly climbed the stairs toward Vivaldi's room, avoiding any of the guards that he happened to run into. He would have to remind Vivaldi to step up the security... Again. The last time they had met he had told her the exact same thing. As well as the time before that.

_Which is the reason I'm here in the first place..._

He sighed, sometimes his sister's inability to follow orders could be quite cute; but ninety-nine percent of the time it was just exasperating.

He was the leader of the mafia, and he didn't have time to go about making sure his sister did as she was told. Not that it mattered. After all, she didn't really seem to care about his opinion on what she ought to get done. However, he hoped that since he had come over to her castle instead of ordering her to meet him in his rose garden, she would listen to what he had to say. Or at least consider it. Unfortunately for him, though, neither was likely.

When he finally reached the door to her room, he knocked quietly before calling her name, "Vivaldi? Vivaldi, I'm coming in."

Pushing open the door, he readied himself for his sister to start yelling at him for coming into her castle, even though it really wasn't his fault her security was lax. But instead, he was greeted by a the sight of the little blonde girl, Alice, splayed on his sister's bed.

Forgetting about his sister completely, he felt his whole body go into 'charm mode', which was what always happened every time he met a pretty girl.

He immediately straightened up and fixed his hat. Just in time, to, for no sooner had he prepared himself the tiny girl awoke, rubbing her and eyes stretching her hands above her head, before pulling herself to her feet and climbing off the bed. He also noticed her change of wardrobe, from her ugly, form-hiding sweatshirt to her new, more more attractive dress.

"E-Eh!?" Finally noticing him, she gave a little squeak of surprise and stared at him, "Wh-What are you doing here?!"

He raised his eyebrows at her, enjoying her flustered look, "What am I doing here? A more accurate question would be, I believe, what are you doing here. I don't think I've seen you around here before, have I, miss?"

"B-But you're... you're the one that gave me directions to go here!" She scowled, confused by the fact that she was the one defending herself against him instead of the other way around.

"I did but," The corners of his mouth twitched upward, "I really must say, I didn't expect you to stay this long..." He crossed the room and the three long strides until his face a mere inch from Alice's, "_Young lady_."

He smirked in satisfaction as the girl's face turned a vibrant shade of red and she quickly backed away from him, her legs pressing into the red bedspread.

_She's really quite adorable._

Blood shook off the thought as quickly as it had come; it was completey irrelevant. She was interesting, and that was all there was to it. He would have her, and then when he got bored of her he would throw her away.

He didn't love her. He wasn't into those kinds of feelings. But, despite all of this...

He couldn't deny the fact that he wanted her. Badly.

He took another step toward her, causing her to lean back even farther, her torso now suspended over the bed while the bottom half of her body pressed into the side.

Just one more step and she would fall onto it completely.

Catching a piece of her hair, Blood continued to talk, "Well? Aren't you going to answer my question?"

"U-Uh... Well... Vivi invited me here, so..." Suddenly, she straightened up, obviously trying to seem intimidating. But the fact that she was at least a head shorter than him made it have the opposite effect, "What are you doing here?"

Little did Blood know it, but she mentally added hat-man to the end of her sentence.

"Well, you see miss, I am Vivaldi's younger brother, so it would only make sense that I come here when I wish, no?"

"O-Oh..." And just like that, Alice was embarrassed again.

"S-So..." She was back to being timid again, and a bright red flush coated her cheeks when she realized exactly what kind of position they were in. She tried to not-so subtlety hint that it was awkward by pushing against Blood's chest, but he realized what she was trying to do and, instead of moving, merely smirked bigger.

"Um... Do you have a job?" The blonde haired teen attempted at starting a conversation, not realizing that this was the wrong topic to bring up.

"Why yes, I do." He twirled her hair around his finger, before bringing to his lips, enjoying her little squeak of surprise and her to once again try to move backwards, "But you probably don't wish to know what it is."

"U-Um... Alright." She tried to pull her hair out of his grasp, but he raised his eyebrows at her curiously, which caused her to scowl, "I..." Blood was concentrated solely on her hair, and it didn't seem to her that he was even paying attention to their conversation.

It was beginning to make her angry. Which was exactly why he was doing it, "Cut that out, will you?!" Angrily, she made a final shove at his chest, which was enough to force him to let go of her hair and take a step away from her, but only because she had taken him by surprise.

"Is the young miss upset?" He cocked his head to curiously, his black top hat moving moving slightly.

"Yes! I am! Just... Just _stop_ it, will you?! You're driving me _insane_!" Realizing that letting him know he was getting to her wasn't the best of ideas, she bit her bottom lip, as if to stop any other words from escaping.

"And just what-pray tell me-am I doing exactly?" Blood new full well what he was doing, after all, making the teen angry was his new favorite pastime. He gave her a little half smirk to illustrate his point.

Then Alice snapped, "You know full well what you're doing, _hat-man_!"

Blood had been standing perhaps a few feet away from her when she said this, her a little bit away from the bed. But not anymore. For as soon as the words left her mouth, he slowly began to stalk toward her, a cold fury filling his icy blue eyes.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?" He smiled then, but there was no kindness in it, only anger.

"I-I..." Alice immediately regretted letting her 'special nickname' slip out. She looked around the room desperately, very aware of the fact that she was having to slowly back away from the man- and that she was about to run out of room to back away in.

Her eyes widened with fear as, in one smooth motion, Blood took a few final strides, closing any of the distance she had managed to put between them, and pushed her backwards onto the bed. She let out a tiny mewl of surprise as she fell onto the bed, him on top of her. Noticing that his knees were on either side of her body, pinning her down, she immediately began to blush.

"H-Hey... What are you doing? L-Let me go!" Alice pushed at his chest in vain, he didn't move an inch.

"I asked you a question. And you _know_ I hate repeating myself." He looked angry. And dangerous. Alice figured that it probably wouldn't be the best time to give him a lecture on personal space.

"I-I called you... hat-man." She sighed in defeat and relaxed slightly, before turning away, refusing to meet his eyes. Her hands were still pushing against his chest, but less insistent now that she knew no amount of shoving was going to sway him.

"...Did you, now? What interesting... nickname. Is there a particular reason that the young miss is being so _rude_?" She turned toward him slightly, still not making eye contact, her lashes shading her teal eyes from view.

"I was not being _rude_! You deserved it, and you know it!" Her eyes flashed indignantly, and she took her hands away from his chest long enough to cross then over her own in a childish gesture. Blood smirked slightly, though still furious.

She took the bait. Stupid girl.

"Deserved it? How?" He cupped her chin, forcing her to look up into his still stormy blue eyes. She swallowed.

"Y-You were... invading my personal space!" She uncrossed her so that she could attempt to pry his hand off her chin angrily, "Exactly like you are now!"

"Hmmmmmm..." Blood didn't reply right away, instead he grabbed her wrists, twisting her arms back so that they were pinned above her head. Her teal eyes widened, and she twisted back and forth in his grip angrily, trying to force him into releasing her.

"Is this what you mean? Does this bother you?" He leaned forward until there was barely a centimeter of space between them, purposely invading on her personal space. Alice, inevitably realizing that he was doing it on purpose, glared at him furiously, trying to make herself seem threatening. Which was difficult, considering the fact that she was being forced to look up at him and couldn't move her arms.

"Yes! So let go!" She snapped, once again attempting to break free of his iron grip.

"Oh? It does? Well then, does _this_ bother you?" He captured both of her wrists into one hand, and slowly slid the other one down the length of her body, smirking as she blushed and gasped, squirming beneath him.

"Of course it does!" She yelped, thrashing vigorously beneath him, "You know what? Just _get off me_!"

Blood ignored her completely, concentrating instead on how red her face was getting, "If just that bothers you, I wonder... What about _this_?"

And suddenly, he was kissing her, his cool lips moving furiously over hers, almost harshly, as his hands tightened their hold on her wrists. Alice froze in surprise, her eyes widening.

And suddenly she was back with her ex again, him smiling at her, telling her that he loved her...

But then Blood's fingers dug into her wrists, dragging her back to reality and causing her to flinch.

_What it he doing?!_

She stayed still for a moment, as if she thought if she didn't acknowledge him, if she pretended he wasn't there, he would just disappear.

But Blood didn't enjoy being ignored.

He was already angry enough at her for revealing her little nick name, and he wasn't in the mood for anymore resistance than she had already given.

Alice attempted to remain perfectly still as he kissed her harder, but it was difficult. It was even more of a challenge considering it was her first kiss- and of course the fact that she was pinned to the bed and utterly helpless.

Suddenly, his free hand tangled into her hair and pulled, hard. Alice gasped and began to struggle, which made Blood smirk and press her head upwards to deepen the kiss. His free hand yanked at the her dress, causing a little squeak to escape her mouth and-

_Did he just _bite_ me?!_

Alice was beginning to panic, she wasn't at school anymore- she was at Vivaldi's house. Which was, apparently, also Blood's. No one would find her here...

With that last desperate thought, she stopped struggling for a moment to gather her strength before bringing her knee up and viciously jabbing him in the groin. Blood yelled and his grip on her wrists loosened, allowing her to slip out from under him, kicking him as she did so. She swiftly rolled off the bed, standing up and watching him warily.

If Blood had been angry before, he was now furious.

If his eyes had been like fire before, they were now like ice; cold, hard, and unforgiving.

"Well well... I hadn't any idea that the young miss was such a _slut_." Alice flinched back as if he had slapped her. Out of all the horrible names she had been called... That wasn't one of them. No matter what people had accused her of, rightly or wrongly, she had never ever been accused of being... _intimate_ with a guy.

She glared at Blood- no, _hat-man_, furiously, her teal eyes boring into his, "I am not a slut! You were the one who was... was..."

"Was what?" He raised an eyebrow as if he were bored with her, causing her fists and teeth to clench.

"_Invading my personal space_!"

Blood grinned and, taking a step toward the girl, began to form a snappy retort when Alice-fed up with him-suddenly turned toward the door, "You aren't even worth my time, _hat-man_. I'm leaving. Tell Vivi I said-"

"Tell Us what?"

The two whirled around to see the queen herself crouching angrily in the windowsill, which was the means by which she had apparently climbed in, with her folded crossly over her chest, glaring at them both.

"And why is Our stupid little brother here? We did not ask for him to come!"

Blood sighed loudly, before toward the door, sensing that it was about time for him to leave, "Sneaking in here was too easy. You really ought to upgrade the security."

Vivaldi frowned, "We already knew that!"

The Mafioso paused in mid-step before turning and tossing a grin over his shoulder, "Then I had no reason to come here. Oh, and-" when he reached where Alice stood he paused for a moment, still smiling but there was a hidden emotion in his eyes... Anger? "Goodbye, little _whore_."

She stiffened at his words, but met his gaze unflinchingly, "Goodbye, _hat-man_."

Suddenly, his expression seemed to change. Instead of being completely fake, the corner of his mouth twitched upward every so slightly, "Fare enough." he said, before turning on his heel and walking out the door.

Vivaldi sighed loudly, "Good riddance! We are glad he left! We dislike him very much! If he did anything to Our Alice, he will pay! He-!"

"Right, right," Alice interrupted, "I just have one question... Why did you come in through the window?"

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**Oh GOD. That was IMPOSSIBLE! I probably shouldn't be telling you guys this, in case you decide to go back and over-analyze the kissing seen, but I have absolutely NO idea how to write that kinda stuff and I basically just based it off whatever fanfics/books I've read... But at random times while writing that seen, I just BURST OUT LAUGHING really loudly and I though I was gonna have to get high on candy to be able to write it. Or kiss a guy...probably the candy. Oh, and for those going WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS CHAPTER JUST BLOODXALICE?! The answer is no, technically it was not... I had to have a reason for Blood to hate Alice and I needed a at least SOME entertainment for you guys LOL... Oh well.**


	6. Dreaming of Reality

**Hello peeps! Sorry about SUPER late update... -_- blargh. I haven't been able to write for SO long... But anyways, if you don't want to read the bloody part I put I'm a summary of it at the end so if you really, really don't want to read it (that's okay peoples!) than it's fine. But just a warning, it is a really, REALLY big part of the story (thus the summary) and was actually the main point of this chapter, so yeah... Next chapter will be funnier, I promise!**

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Alice shifted uncomfortably in the silk nightdress, the soft cloth felt strange on her skin. Not uncomfortable, but definitely strange. She rolled over onto her side, enjoying the way her body seemed to sink into the cushions. She was only on the sofa (as Vivaldi had taken the bed) but she could definitely tell that this was the definition of luxury-and that her house was not. Not that she was complaining, of course, but the difference between classes was stunning. Her own home was smaller, two stories with an one-roomed attic and barely any furniture. The only reason that they had such a large house was because before everything, before the accident, her father had worked. He had been a lawyer, and a very good one at that. But then, when _that_ happened... He would rarely go to work, and when he did, it was usually under the influence of alcohol.

Alice shook her head, attempting to clear any thoughts of her family from her mind. Right now, she needed to worry about just exactly what was going to take place tomorrow. She was fully aware of the school field trip Vivi so badly wanted her to go on, a supposedly relaxing 'educational vacation' to the beach. She had been planning on skipping. Maybe she would have used the extra days to work overtime on her job. Or do homework in the park. Whatever she was doing, she was _definitely_ not planning on going. Although the teachers claimed it was educational, the last time they had done this she had made the mistake of going along (a field trip to the same beach- the school did the same one every year to get a discount and save money) and the entire time had consisted of watching her female classmates putting on skimpy bikinis and parading up and down the beaches, lying on beach towels to 'tan', and organizing late night dance parties. How all of this was educational, Alice had yet to discover. She had spent the majority to the beach trip locked up in hotel room reading a book and drawing.

Sighing, she rolled over so that she was facing the back of the couch, pressing her face into the cool leather. She was absolutely positive that this beach trip was going to go just as badly as the first. That, and she was _not_ going to stand for another encounter with hat-man who, she was beginning to think, was just as perverted as Peter, if not more so.

_And he had the nerve to call me a-! ...that word that he said._

She felt her face begin to heat up as she remembered their kiss.

_How _dare_ he do that?! But of course, it didn't mean anything! After all, it was just a kiss! An open mouthed kiss, but still! _

She began to mutter under her breath, pulling herself into an upright position and punching the couch with each word, "Stupid... Jerk... _Hat-man_... Hope he dies... I'll beat him up if he tries anything...!"

After a while, when she had finally exhausted herself, Alice lay back down onto soft leather sofa and gazed up at the high ceiling.

_What am I going to do about tomorrow?! Oh well... It doesn't matter now... I'll just explain it to Vivaldi later... She'll let me go home... Right?_

Sighing, Alice inhaled the musty, rose scent of the couch. She then buried her face in her arms, and eventually drifted off to sleep...

**This Part Is A Little Bit Bloody**

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_"Onee-san! Onee-san, watch me!" A little girl spun around and around, dancing on the sidewalk, her blonde hair flashing in the sunlight._

_"Alice, be careful, baby, there are a lot of cars over here. This is a very busy intersection and you shouldn't be playing near the side of the road!" A woman who was a few paces behind the two girls called to her._

_"M'kay!" Completely ignoring her mother's warning, the child edged closer and closer to the curb._

_"Alice-!"_

_"Mom, calm down!" A brunette girl a bit older than the blonde one smiled up the woman, her eyes shining, "Stress is bad for the baby!"_

_The woman's eyes softened as she looked down at the now-distinct bulge in her stomach, "You're probably right, sweetie, but I need to get Alice away from the road. She could get hit!"_

_The woman, with that determined maternal passion whom only mothers possess, strode toward her youngest daughter, "Alice! Alice get away from there!"_

_The girl was now balanced on the edge of the curb, leaning dangerously from one side to another, "Eh?!"_

_Her mother had surprised her, and she lost her balance, falling into the street, "Ouch!"_

_"ALICE!"_

_The little girl looked at her mother in confusion from where she was sitting on the street. She was perfectly fine, "Mom? Mom, calm down, I'm fine. See?" She held up each limb with a smile-_

_And watched in confusion as her mother rushed toward her, hair flying about her face._

_Lorina's expression of horror._

_She quickly rose to her feet, worried now, "M-Mom?"_

_Her mother had reached her and she was being pushed-_

_Blood, shining in a crimson river sliding down the side of the truck. Lorina clapped her hands over her mouth._

No.

_Tears were running down Lorina's face now, but Alice's eyes stayed dry._

Oh, please, please no...

_The edge of the curb she had been playing on was stained with scarlet. The cars windshield and front looked like it had been splattered with a can of red paint._

_And there, beneath the wheels, was a pile of something. It was red, and bloody. Almost like raw hamburger meat. Except, right next to it, was a necklace made out of spaghetti. Alice had made it for her mom a long time ago, in one of her classes._

_She bent down and picked up the necklace in confusion._

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no...

_The necklace, already broken, hung limply from her hand, and as she watched the noodles slipped off the end, sending the already-stained-red noodles to fall to the ground, only to skid in the pools of blood that were beginning to collect, but there was already red, red. Red _everywhere_... And the pile of something that was-_

_"M-Mom?" Alice whispered._

_Somewhere, faintly in the distance, she could hear her older sister screaming._

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Alice awoke with a start, panting and gasping for air.

_Mom..._

She felt a sharp pain in her chest, either from missing her mother or from the bruises that decorated her midriff.

_It's just a dream... Just a nightmare..._

A nightmare that she saw when she saw both when she was awake and when she was asleep. No matter where she was, or who she was with it was always that same dream.

That same dream of the accident.

_Anything, anything would be better than just reminiscing on this for the rest of the day!_

And with that thought, Alice climbed determinedly off of the sofa and went to wake Vivaldi.

Little did she know, she couldn't have been more wrong.

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"Um... Vivi, are you sure this is okay?! After all, since this is a school field trip, shouldn't we be riding on the bus with the rest of the school?!" Alice asked, shouting over the roaring wind and blaring music.

"Of course it is!" Vivaldi yelled back, "This is way better than the service we're be getting on that disgusting, mustard yellow monstrosity!"

The two girls were riding in Vivaldi's cherry-red convertible _limo_, something that Alice had not even known existed. As soon they had gotten into the car, Vivaldi had insisted on rolling all of the windows and the roof down, before cranking up the music saying: 'if We do not practice listening for intruders our stupid younger brother will get angry at Us!'

Somehow, Alice didn't think that hat-man had quite meant that, but she kept silent, fearing for her life... and her ears.

"Vivaldi! Can we please turn down the music?!"

"What?! I _can't hear you_!"

Alice moaned and sunk down into the sink, tugging down on the front of her hood. It was going to be a long ride.

And she still hadn't succeeded in forgetting about her dream.

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**So... The big secret is revealed! Though there are still some more to come... Sorry about the (mostly) boring chapter! The next one will be MUCH more exciting, promise! Oh, and a summary of the violent part... So Alice, when she was younger, was playing in the edge of the street in this very busy intersection where (despite mother's warnings) she accidentally fell and landed in the street. She didn't notice that anything was wrong, but her mom saw that a car was coming at her from behind and shoved her out of the way, getting hit in the process. Her mom was also pregnant, so yeah... That's why everybody blames her for it.**


	7. Welcome to the Beach!

**This chapter was late but I had (several) good reasons so meh. -_^**

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"We have arrived, Your Majesty!" The chauffeur called over his shoulder, forced to scream over the too-loud music.

"About time!" Vivaldi scowled at him and crossed her arms over her chest, looking furious.

"M-My deepest apologies, my lady!" He sounded scared now.

"Not accepted!" She turned toward Alice and pointed an accusing finger toward the front seat, "Off with his head!"

The man tightened his hands the wheel, the knuckles turning white.

"Wh-What?" Taken aback, Alice stared at her in confusion, "_Why_?"

"Because he disrespected Us!"

"How?!"

Vivaldi sniffed daintily, pouting, "He called Us 'My Lady' instead of 'Your Majesty'!"

"...what's the difference?"

"Sense We are the next queen, it only makes sense that he address Us as such!"

Alice's mouth fell open, "_What_?!"  
Vivaldi sighed, leaning back in her chair with an are of tedious patience that (under normal circumstances) would have gotten on the younger girl's nerves.

"You _know_ what We _said_! Our dear Alice, why must you always do this to Us?"

But Alice was already lost in her thoughts.

_If Vivi is next in line for the queen, than... she's royalty?! And if she is, what does that make Blood...?!_

"H-Hey... Vivi? If you're... next in line for the queen, what does Blood...-" She swallowed, not sure how to phrase her question.

_'Why yes, I do but...You probably don't wish to know what it is.'_

"...What's Blood's job?"

Vivaldi looked startled, "Our younger brother? Since when were talking about him? But if you must know, he is the head of the mafia."

"He's the _what_?!"

Vivaldi frowned deeply, "Alice, this is no longer cute. You _really_ must stop asking Us to repeat whatever We have just said!"

"B-But... How can you just say that?! As if it's the most natural thing in the world..." She shook her head, "Working in the mafia... How does that... How can you be so _calm_?! Vivi, this is real life! Not some storybook! He could get _arrested_! Or worse, _killed!_"

Vivaldi expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement in the blink of an eye, "But he won't be."

"How do you know that?!"

"Because he hasn't been so far."

"That doesn't guarantee anything!"

"...We don't understand why you are so worried about this! Why should Our younger brother's doings make a difference to you?"

"Because he's your _younger brother_! Shouldn't you care about what happens to him?!"

Vivaldi frowned, suddenly averting her eyes from Alice, "Of course We do... it's just... We and Our brother have a... slight disagreement. Our brother acts stupidly on a daily basis, while We do not, and yet he continues to reprimand Us! He acts as if We are irresponsible and are not capable of taking care of Ourself, and since We don't agree with him We-"

"But what does this have to do with being worried about him?! It doesn't matter if you have a disagreement! No matter what, shouldn't you always want the best for your-" Alice swallowed, "Family?"

Vivaldi shrugged slightly, "It wouldn't make a difference if We told him We were worried. He always ignores Us. He will only pay attention and worry about Us if We do something reckless!"

_'He will worry for Us if We do something reckless!'_

_'It's all your fault Alice! If you had just listened-! She would still be alive, they would both still be alive!'_

"Shouldn't you be glad," Alice said softly, "that he worries for you at all?"

Vivaldi paused mid-rant, the anger slowly melting from her face, "What do you mean by that?"

"...nothing. Forget about it. We've arrived, remember?"

"Oh yes! We have arrived!" Vivaldi sang out happily, their earlier disagreement completely forgotten. She pushed open the door before climbing out and hurrying to Alice's side of the car. Grabbing the younger girl's hand in a death-grip, she quickly yanked her out of the limo.

"Hurry up! We do not have all day, you know!"

Alice shook her head, smiling, and allowed herself to be dragged into the parking lot.

_Is it even possible for someone to change their mind so quickly?!_

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Vivaldi hummed to herself softly, pulling Alice toward the group of children already gathered between two yellow buses, which were parked in front of a tall, run-down building that Alice new only too well.

_Great. We're here._

As Vivaldi strode towards the bus, Alice couldn't help but notice that the older girl was still wearing her cosplay outfit, which, for odd reason, Alice barely even noticed anymore. She did notice, however, that she was still wearing the blue dress she had picked out, since Vivaldi had allowed her to keep her hoodie but she hadn't allowed her to put her uniform back on.

She pulled her hood closer around her head as they approached the group, inhaling the familiar scent.

"Look! It's Vivaldi!"

"But who's that with her?"

"Who cares?! It's _Vivaldi_!"

"Wonder how she got here?"

"Look! Behind her!"

"It's a _limo_! And it's _red_!"

"I'm jealous... why did she drive here in a limo, anyway?"

"Can you not remember?! She's a Dupre!"

Alice gave a mental sigh of relief. None of them were paying very much attention to her, like she had expected. After all, she was covering most of her face.

As the other people moved to surround Vivaldi, Alice carefully removed her hand from the other girl's and moved away, into the shadows. She watched silently as the other girl looked around in surprise, searching in vain for someone who was no longer there.

_Sorry, Vivi!_

Alice turned around and hurried toward the hotel.

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"Alice! AAAAAAALLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEEEEEE!"

"Gyaa!" Alice squeaked in surprise and covered her ears. Ignoring him was harder than she had thought it would be.

"Aliiiiiiice! Alice? Where are you?!"

Alice carefully stood up on her tiptoes, looking through the peephole in the hotel door. As she peered out, she caught a glimpse of Ace wandering stupidly through the halls, calling out her name every so often. Suddenly, he glanced over toward her. She gasped and, moving away from the peephole, pressed her back against the door.

_Dammit!_

"Alice?"

A loud knocking resounded through the room.

"Alice? Are you in here?!"

A moment of silence, then:

"I guess not, then!"

She sighed in relief when she heard the knights receding footsteps, but her relief was short lasted.

"Oh well! Since I'm bored, I'll just knock down this door, hahahaha!"

_Argh! Damn him! Of course he knows I'm here! He's just trying to get on my nerves!_

_**Bang!**_

Alice yelped, flinching away from the door as it collapsed in on itself. She very was very nearly squished, except that she leapt away at the last possible moment.

"Eh? Alice? You were in here all this time?" Ace scratched his head, cocking his to one side. He didn't look at all sorry about knocking down her door.

She tried playing dumb, "All this time? What do you mean?"

"I was calling for Alice! Really loudly!"

"I-I didn't...hear you...?" She bit her bottom lip.

"Wow... Alice must be really bad at hearing! Unless...," his eyebrows drew together, creating an expression that was so dejected it was almost comical. "Was Alice avoiding me?"

"Wh-What? Of course not!"

Ace walked across the room toward her, the same melodramatic expression still pasted on his face, "Aw... Alice, your hurting my feelings! Why would you ignore me?"

She sighed and gave up, "I wasn't so much as avoiding you, as avoiding everyone. I just didn't really want to be found..." She had spent the last hour hiding out in her hotel room reading, and she wasn't ready to see just how angry Vivi was. As soon as she had heard Ace calling for her, she had immediately figured that it had something to do with her friend. After all, why else would he be looking for her?

Alice sighed slightly, leaning against the wall behind her. She could easily imagine what Vivaldi would say when she encountered her again.

_'How could We have assumed that Alice was a good person? Didn't she just run away from us like a coward? As We've said before, We don't like stupid or annoying girls so just go away!'_

Alice cringed.

"Not even by me?" Ace whined.

"_Especially_ by you!" She hissed under her breath.

"Eh?"

"...nevermind."

"Ahahahahaha! Good! Alice had me worried there for a moment..." Then, without warning, Ace suddenly scooped her up in his arms, cradling her to his chest.

"A-Ace?! Wh-What are you doing?!" Alice squirmed in his arms, struggling to get free, "Put me down right now!"

"Sorry, but I can't! Vivaldi's orders! I have to take you to her immediately..."

_Oh no..._

"C-C'mon, Ace, surely you can just let this one slide...?"

"Can't!" He sand cheerfully, "and if I get to hold Alice while doing it... then I especially can't!"

"Urgh..." She moaned, hating herself for the slight blush spreading across her cheeks.

**Two Hours Later**

"Alice? Alice, wake up! We're here!" Ace lightly shook the girl who, after the first hour, had ceased to pay attention to where they were going.

"...are you sure we're not lost again? This could just be some random guy's-" Alice refused to open her eyes.

"_Finally_! It is about time! We have been waiting very long for you!" The door of the hotel room swung open, banging against the opposite wall, and out came Vivaldi, in all of her cosplaying glory, "Alice, We were very annoyed when you left! You will not leave Our presence without giving us at least some warning! Now come inside."

Alice opened her eyes with a start, "V-Vivi?"

_That's it?! After I ran away from her... She's not even angry! Just annoyed! If this were onii-san..._

"And you, annoying knight, you are dismissed! We do not wish to see you for the rest of the night. Goodbye." Vivaldi grabbed Alice's hands and, yanking her from the surprised knight's arms, dragged her into the hotel room.

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"Here, We have an outfit ready for you!" Vivaldi sang excitedly, opening the little door that connected the bathroom to the rest of the apartment.

So far, Alice had been forced to undergo the exact same thing that had happened in the mansion- an incredible amount of primping and cleaning until she practically didn't recognize her own body. The only thing that reassured her that she was still herself was the ring of always-there bruises that shone on her skin like an ugly stain.

"Alice, since this is the beach, We picked this out especially for you!" Vivaldi seemed incredibly excited, and Alice tried her best not to dampen her friends good mood.

"Oh, really? What is it?"

"A bikini!"

_Oh no..._

Images flashed through Alice's head. Annoying girls from her school, walking around the beach's in flashy swimsuits that barely covered their chest. Tiny bikinis in shop windows. And most of all...

_A bikini... Those don't cover your midriff, do they?_

"I don't think that's such a good Idea, Vivi."

Vivaldi frowned slightly, "But We want you to change into it!"

"Look... I just don't feel very...comfortable...wearing a bikini. That's all."

"Fine then. We'll just have to call our annoying little brother to make you change into to it!"

"Wh-What?!" Alice's voice came out in a tiny squeak.

The older girl grinned, sensing that she had won, "Our little brother told us that if you get on Our nerves he would punish you!"

_P-Punish?_

Alice shivered at the thought.

"Alright, Vivi, I'll wear it... But only if I get to change out of it immediately afterwards!"

The older girl grinned, "Deal!"

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Alice moaned as she looked down at herself. The bikini she was wearing was light blue with white stripes and a little black heart at the waistband of the bottoms. It wasn't as skimpy as she had thought it would be, but it was still a more showy than she would have liked. After all, the only bathing suits she had ever worn were one pieces, and she hadn't gone swimming for a very long time.

She frowned and looked down at her stomach.

_Yep, definitely visible..._

The bruises weren't as bad as before, but you could still tell they were there.

_Maybe I can just tell Vivi that I fell...?_

"Alice! Alice, open up! We want to see!" Vivaldi's voice resounded from the other side of the door.

"R-Right...um...come in!" She quickly put her arms down in front of her waist, obscuring most of her injuries.

Right in cue, the door slammed open, "Oh!" Gasped Vivaldi, staring at Alice before suddenly squealing, "You look so cuuuuute!"

"Great... can I change out of this now?"

"Of course not! We are going to show everyone how adorable you are-"

Alice's mouth fell open, "What?! Vivi! This wasn't part of the deal!"

Vivaldi sighed slightly, crossing her arms over her chest, "We lied. Come on."

"No! Vivi-!" Alice tightened her grip on herself, worrying.

"Come on we're-" Vivaldi cut her off and grabbed her arms, wrenching them off of her waist, "going...?" She released Alice in surprise, staring at the bruises adorning her waist, "Alice? What happened?"

"I...fell."

"You fell."

"Yeah."

"Doesn't look like you fell."

"Well, I did, _okay_?!" Alice bit her bottom lip, hating the little bit of tears that were welling in her eyes.

Then, Vivaldi did a very surprising thing, she smiled. "It's okay, Alice. If you don't want me to know, I won't make you tell me. Come on, I'll let wear a coverup!" Then, for the millionth time that day, she grabbed Alice's hand and dragged the younger girl behind her.

Now it was Alice's turn to stare.

_This has never...well.._happened_ before... I wonder if there's something wrong with Vivi...?_

"Hurry _up_!" The purple-haired girl snapped, "We don't have all day!"

"Vivi-"

"Hmm?"

"...Never mind." _Thank you._

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"No! I am not leaving the hotel room looking like _this_!" Alice gripped the door handle behind her, glaring at Vivaldi. "I _refuse_!"

"Why?" Vivaldi seemed genially confused, "you were fine with it before!"

"That's because I thought that by coverup you went... something that would actually _coverup_!" She gestured down to the white, semi-see-through dress she was wearing. It only reached mid thigh, and and v-shaped neckline followed almost exactly the line of her not-incredibly-modest bikini.

"But what's the fun in that? You look _so_ much cuter this way!"

Alice glared at her furiously, "I _refuse_!" She repeated stubbornly.

"Fine then." The older girl smirked, "Ace!"

The door burst open, revealing Ace whom had been (apparently) waiting outside, "At your service your majesty ahahahaha-" he spotted Alice, "Wow! Alice you look really hot!" His eyebrows disappeared under his shaggy bangs, his irreplaceable smile still stuck on his face.

Alice was spared responding by Vivaldi, "You are to carry Alice to...wherever We want her to be! Now!"

Ace's grin (if possible) got even bigger, "Gladly! Come on, Alice!"

Then, without waiting for Alice's reply, his arms slipped under her, pulling her away from the door. Alice yelped as his gloved hand glanced across her bare thigh, blushing profusely.

"Ace, stop it!" She snapped, her teal-blue eyes glaring angrily into his.

"Stop what?" He asked innocently, cocking his head to one side and leaning closer to Alice. "What am I doing? Or was Alice thinking something perverted?"

"Wh-What?!" Her blush deepened, "I was _not_!"

"Yes you were! Ahahahaha, Alice is pervert! Alice is pervert!"

"What do you mean?! That is not true you-!"

"If the idiotic knight does not shut up, We will have his stupid head chopped off!" Vivaldi proclaimed, glaring at Ace and holding her finger into the air, "Now come on!"

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, except for Vivaldi's constant reminder to Ace to try to keep him from walking off on a completely different route. But when they finally reached the entrance to the hotel, Alice began to worry.

_It doesn't matter if my bruises aren't showing! I really, really don't want anyone to see me! Especially in this stupid bathing suit!_

"A-Ace... could you please put me down now?" Alice bit her bottom lip, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Aw... Alice, if you keep making cute faces like that It'll tempt me, you know?" His slid his hand up her leg a little bit, as if to prove his point.

"I'm not kidding! Put me down, _now_!"

Suddenly, the teasing smile dropped from Ace's face, and he leaned In towards Alice, frowning slightly. "And what makes you think I _am_? That's kind of mean of Alice, considering I'm being _dead serious_." An odd glint reflected in his red eyes, making Alice want to hide.

"I-I never said that you weren't. I just..."

_Vivaldi... Help!_

As if hearing her silent plea, Vivaldi glared at Ace, "Put her down _now_. Our brother can handle it from here!"

_Our brother...shit. _

Ace sighed slightly before setting Alice down on her feet gently, his hands lingering a bit to long on her wast. "Bye! Oh, and one more thing..."

"What?" Alice scowled at him, pouting slightly.

Suddenly, one of Ace's hands gripped the back of her hair, the other grabbing her chin. She squeaked in surprise as she felt his lips brush her own slightly, "I _told_ you I was serious, didn't I?" Then he turned around and left.

Alice stared after him for a moment, completely surprised, her hand lightly pressed to her lips. Suddenly, realization dawned upon her, "_Ace you pervert_!" She yelled furiously, glaring at the knight's receding figure.

As she scowled at his back, she could have sworn she heard the faint sound of his laughter.

"Ahem."

Alice spun around in surprise when she heard someone clear their throat slightly.

"Well if it isn't the young miss. Going about seducing men as usual, I see." His icy blue eyes flashed, and for some odd reason he looked quite pissed off. But it couldn't be because Ace had kissed her...right?

Alice scowled slightly, looking up into Blood's handsome face. "Oh, it's _you_, _hat-man_."

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**Ermagawd... I spent sooooooo long on dis stewpid chapter... Oh, and that wasn't the AceXAlice moment, I just felt like there was too much BloodXAlice and don't worry, the only reason I put Blood here was because I needed a way to END the freaking chapter. Speaking of which, I probably shouldn't have told you that. （＾****_＾）****feh. To hell with it.**


	8. That! The second one!

**So here's the next chapter... This one's kinda BorisXAlice. I think. But anyway, there shall be JuliusXAlice in the next chapter (unless my plans change) so hold on! Oh, and the upcoming violence isn't actually upcoming violence. So at the end when you reach the at home part I cut off before anything bad happens, so don't worry! :)**

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Blood smirked at her cooly, looking at her with a completely disdainful expression, "Well, I suppose since Vivaldi wishes for me to escort I'll have to, anyways. So, shall we?" He asked raising his eyebrows and holding out one hand to her.

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows at him, "I think _not_. I can walk myself thank you very much!"

Vivaldi cut in, "Our annoying little brother will stand over there-" she pointed to Alice's right side, "And We will escort Alice to the beach!"

Then, without waiting for a response from either Alice or Blood, she grabbed the younger girl's hand and began to lead her away from the hotel. But Blood wasn't finished yet. As they began to leave, Alice did her best to ignore him, but when he reached out and grabbed her wrist, she sent him a furious glare and attempted to yank her hand out of his. In response to her desperate attempts to get free, he only smirked.

_That bas-...er...bad person! He always tries to make me as uncomfortable as possible..._

"Vivaldi," she hissed. "Will you _please_ make Blood _let go_?!"

But either the older girl hadn't heard her or hadn't cared, "Look!" Squealed Vivaldi, "Isn't it _pretty_?!"

Ahead of them was the beach, the white sand glistening in the waning light of the sun. The ocean seemed to sparkle as the waves performed a complicated dance, twisted and turning before crashing into the shore. But what made Alice's breath catch in her throat was the sunset. Pinks, reds, and oranges blended together, creating a gorgeous array of colors; something that belonged in a painting.

_This is the kind of sunset that I always, always thought I would go and see with mother._

Lorina and she would have splashed in the waves, laughing as the reflection of the sky turned the blue water to a soft shade of gold. Their mother would be sitting on her beach towel, reading, and talking to father. Making sure that Alice and Lorina had enough sunscreen on.

"Alice? Alice, is something wrong?" Vivaldi pulled on her hand lightly, causing Alice to be aware that she had been staring off into space with an almost sad look on her face.

"N-No! I'm fine! It's just...it really is _beautiful_." She whispered softly, looking back out over the water. Some of her hair slid out from behind her ear a slight breeze picked up, the light catching on it in a way that made the gold even more noticeable than before. Forgetting that Blood still had her wrist, she tried to tuck it back behind her ear. When she felt the back of someone else's hand brush her neck she remembered and shot Blood a glare before asking him nicely, "Will you please let go of my wrist now?"

"No." He answered in a bored voice.

Alice felt a muscle in her eye twitch, "Suit yourself." She said coldly, and, realizing that her mouth was beginning to form into a pout, quickly changed it to a scowl instead. Acting like she didn't notice his hand touching her skin, she caught her loose hair and slipped it behind her ear.

She thought that she heard a slight intake of breath from Blood, but it was probably just her imagination. After all, he was the one who had grabbed her wrist in the first place.

"Is the young miss trying to seduce _me_?" He said in dry amusement, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Alice's head snapped up and she glared at him, "Of course not! You're the one who wouldn't let go of my hand!"

"You two are taking too long! We are getting impatient!" Vivaldi snapped, "We normally would not do this, but you two have already taken up too much of Our precious time." And with that, she reach down and, tearing Blood's hand from Alice's wrist, pulled Alice into her arms before she began to walk.

"V-Vivi?!" Alice stammered in surprise. Her stomach gave a small cry of protest as her bruises came in contact with each other.

But Vivaldi was ignoring her and walking toward the beach, leaving a slightly pissed Blood to follow in their wake.

_Hmmph! Serves him right!_

When they reached their destination, Vivaldi set Alice down gently before giving specific instructions to Blood, who didn't appear to be listening or, particularly, care.

She turned to Alice, "We are going to go change. You will stay here until We get back!"

"Vivi, do I really have to wear...this?! It's kind of...tiny! Can I at least have my hoodie-!"

The older girl cut her off with a glower, "_No_. Wait here."

Alice sighed miserably, before sitting down in the sand, hugging her knees up to her chin. The wind had started up again and had caused her hair to come completely out from behind her ears and fly around her face, but she was too moody to care.

_Thank god hat-man is staying silent..._

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"Alice! Alice, We're back!"

Alice looked up to see Vivaldi smiling and walking across the beach toward her, clothed in a dark red bikini that showed more skin than one she had given Alice. Slightly comforted by the fact that she wasn't wearing the most inappropriate bathing suit on the beach, the younger girl smiled back.

"Hey, Vivi. You look really...cute in that bikini!" She stood up and dusted herself off.

Vivaldi didn't seem to notice the hesitation in her voice, "We do?" She looked down at herself, pleased, "Thank you!"

"Yeah...so where, exactly, are we going now?"

Vivaldi grinned, "The same place Our brother has just gone!"

Alice looked around in surprise, scanning the beach for Blood. But as far as she could see, there was just a vast expanse of white beach, ocean, and on one side of the beach, a very large rock.

_Is that where we're going...?_

"Come on!" Vivaldi quickly grabbed her wrist and began dragging her in the direction of the rock.

_What is it with the Dupre's and dragging people around?!_

Right before they reached the other side of the boulder, which was even larger up close, Vivaldi paused for a moment to examine both herself and Alice. After a couple of last minute fixes and adjustments, the purple-haired girl grabbed Alice's hand before pulling her around the huge obstruction and into absolute and total chaos.

_Well damn._

Vivaldi had just dragged her friend into an absolutely wild beach party. Girls in showy bikini flounced about, sporting glasses filled to the brim with (probably) alcohol and mini umbrellas, while various shirtless males showed off their strength by participating in a giant game to beach volleyball.

_Ugh...my own personal hell._

"Alice, my love!"

The blonde cried out in surprise as she was suddenly slammed into the ground by an excited Peter.

_Gyaaaaaah! He's _not wearing a shirt_!_

"P-PETER YOU _PERVERT_!" She yelped, struggling in his iron hold before finally punching him in the face. She could feel herself blushing madly.

_That might have been a little extreme..._

She bit her bottom lip and looked at the rabbit lying in the sand. It was his own fault. He was the one being a creepy stalker. Besides, that hug had _hurt_.

"But, Alice, you came all the way here _just_ to see _me_! Oh, I just _knew_ you would!" Peter lifted his face out of the sand to smile up at her.

"I did _not_ come here to see you!" She snapped back.

"But, you-!"

Oh, whatever, Vivaldi we're leaving!" Now it Alice's turn to grab the older girl's wrist and drag her with her.

"No! Alice! Wait, _please_!" He scrambled desperately to get off the ground.

As Alice disappeared into the crowd, she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit bad as she watched him look after her with huge, sad, eyes.

_Well, it's _his_ fault for being such a pervert!_

Sighing softly, she released Vivaldi's hand and took a moment to get her bearings. She was now in the complete center of the crowd, with people pushing and pressing against her to try to get to wherever it was that they wanted to go.

"Vivi-!" She called, glancing around, panicked, as she searched for her friend. But Vivaldi's tell-tale purple hair was nowhere in sight.

"Vivi!" She called again, before finally realizing that it was pointless.

_I'll just have to get to the edge of the crowd..._

A couple of minutes and a lot of pushing and shoving later, the closely knitted knot of people began to thin out. When she reached a place that didn't seem to be filled with hundreds of students, she sighed in relief and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Hey..." She looked up in surprise to hear a masculine voice, one that she didn't recognize. It was a group of some of the boys in her school, "I haven't seen you before. Are you new?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Listen, I was wondering, do you want to come and hang it with us? We could show you around...get you acquainted with some of the people here... So what'd ya say? You in?"

"U-Um... Not thank you, I'm really fine-" she put a hand, trying to refuse their invitation politely. She bit her bottom lip nervously.

_Yet another reminder of why I wear my hoodie all the time...talking to strangers is _miserable_!_

"We insist." Said another member of the group, reaching out and grabbing her wrist.

Alice frowned and tried to pull it back, shaking her head quickly. "Like I said, _no_."

"What's the matter? We not good enough for ya, sweetie?" He leered at her, yanking on her wrist.

She squeaked in surprise as she pulled forward, falling toward him. Suddenly, a pair of arms caught her around her waist, making her flinch in pain.

"Didn't you here her say _no_?!" Her savior growled, pulling her closer to his chest and gently setting her upright on the sand.

"Boris!" She gasped, turning toward the cat-boy in surprise.

He flashed a quick grin before turning back to the offending party, "_Well_?!"

"Er...right, sorry!" The leader said quickly, gesturing toward the crowd in a not-so-subtle hint to others to retreat, "We didn't realize she already _had_ a boyfriend...sorry!" He mumbled quickly before disappearing into the crowd.

Trying to ignore the blush that automatically spread across her cheeks at the word _boyfriend_, she smiled up at Boris, "Thanks. You really saved me back there!"

He leaned in toward her slightly, "Anytime. And your _very_ welcome." Seeing her flush even harder using close proximity and at the fact that she had just realized _he_ wasn't wearing a shirt _either_, his grin widened, "By the way, did I mention that I love your swimsuit?"

She quickly stepped a couple of paces away from him, fiddling with her hair, "Right. So, ah, do you know exactly what the purpose of this whole thing is?" She gestured toward the party, which was still in full swing.

"Of course!" He said, recoiling in mock horror, "Don't _tell_ me you've _never_ done this before?!"

"What do you mean?" Alice cocked her head to one side, puzzled.

Boris' face quickly changed back to his signature grin, "You'll see. Just promise that _I'm_ the one you'll go with, alright?"

"Um...okay..?" She looked at him for a second in confusion, before turning once again to scan the crowd for Vivaldi.

As soon as she turned away, Boris quickly did a celebratory fist pump before composing himself once again.

"_Testing, 1...2...3..._" A voice resounded through the the throng, as through through a loudspeaker.

"Eh?" Alice looked around, in confusion, "Wha...?"

"Nightmare. He's going to start the event..." Boris supplied quickly, "It's time, _now_! Come on!" He reached for her hand and then hesitated for a moment, "It's so you don't get lost in the crowd." He clarified quickly.

She couldn't help but smile at him, "So I don't get lost in the crowd." She agreed, before grabbed his hand and followed him through the mass of people.

"_So, here we are at this year's...er...beach festival!_" Alice peered over heads and between heads until she managed to catch a glimpse of flashing silver hair, a definitive trait of Nightmare, whom she remembered meeting before as a member of Wonderland.

_He must be important..._

"_Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla...and more stupid, tiring words that Gray wanted me to memorize. Let's begin!_"

Alice's eyebrows shot upwards.

_Er..._Gray_ must be important._

Suddenly, loud music filled the hall, a mix of different songs all pushed into one. She winced. She had always despised that kind of music. It seemed to her that it was just a bunch of different songs stuck together in the strangest way possible. As she watched, different people paired up, dancing together. Some were amazing, drawing excited cheers from the crowd; others were terrible, causing people to boo and yell at them to stop. She stood, mesmerized, as the crowd changed from one large group, to separate groups, to couples. Soon, there were only a few people (that she could see) that weren't dancing, her included.

She yelped in surprise as Boris yanked her toward him, blushing slightly at her wide-eyed expression. He spun her around in time with the music, causing a matching blush to appear on her own face. As they danced, Alice couldn't help but slowly begin to smile. Everything seemed so insignificant, with just her, the music, and Boris. Gradually, she even began to dance with him instead of just Boris kind of awkwardly trying to spin her around. She giggled at his stunned expression and squeezed his hand gently. He squeezed back, before laughing slightly, the biggest grin she had ever seen on his face.

_Maybe all the boys here aren't _that_ bad!_

Alice grinned back, finally allowing her happiness to show completely. She cocked her head to one side in puzzlement as Boris blushed and looked away, toward the other couples.

"Hey, Boris?" She asked, calling his attention back to her.

"Yeah?"

"I think this might be the best beach trip I've ever had. You know, if I weren't wearing this horrible bikini."

"Huh, really?" He spun her around, "I think it's looks kinda sexy- er...really pretty on you!"

She raised her eyebrows slightly at him, "Thanks. So does yours."

He stared at her for a moment, "Did you just call me sexy? ...Or did you call me pretty?"

She cocked her head to one side and tapped her bottom lip with her finger, as if pretending to think, "That! The _second_ one!"

He blushed and stared at her in mock hurt, "You're so mean, Alice."

She smiled at him. He smiled back.

And for the second time that week, Alice forgot about her father and Lorina, and forgot about exactly what was her fault. About just what she had done.

And instead, she danced.

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The rest of the field trip passed in a blur of Wonderland. Literally. She could hardly get a moment of peace with Peter's constant hugs, Vivaldi's suggestions to either get a makeover or, more often, suggestion to _lose the sweatshirt_, which she had finally given back to Alice, and Boris popping up every five minutes or so to either talk about or help her with whatever she was currently doing.

And when Alice finally got back on the bus and climbed out, doing her best to ignore Blood, who was sitting at the front of the bus and smirking at her, she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed.

But that feeling quickly changed into fear.

_What's dad going to say? What's Lorina going to say? Will they even notice that I was gone?_

Biting her bottom lip, she carefully pulled out her spare key and twisted it in the lock. Slipping inside, she scanned the hallway carefully.

_Maybe they didn't notice I was missing. Maybe they thought that I was just here the whole time. Maybe-_

"Alice!" Lorina's high-pitched voice called furiously, "_Where_ have you _been_?!"

"A-A field trip, of course!" She tried a smile.

"Sure. I bet you were at some _guy's_ house, weren't you?!"

"N-No, onee-san-" She reached toward her sister, sensing that their reasoning was drifting farther and farther apart.

"You're stuttering! You're _lying_! That's horrible! And after everything, _everything_ I've done for you so far, Alice, do you know how _difficult_ it is for me?! To have to _live_ with my _mother's and little sister's killer_?!" Shaking her head slowly, her face contorted in pain in anger, she started to cry softly, "And _don't_ call me that! You are _no sister of mine_!"

"I-!" Alice started.

"What the _hell_-?!"

She flinched and turned around to see her father standing behind her, looking angry and very, very drunk.

"What did you do to Lorina, you _f***ing ingrate_!"

"I didn't-!"

Lorina cut her off with an explanation of how she'd tried to 'lie'.

_What's the point of trying, Alice, if it's not going to change anything?_

A long time ago, she had been stupid enough to believe that talking it out with her father or Lorina was going to work. She had tried it every time she was hit or yelled at.

But she was no idiot-she learned fast. The next week, she had looked up self-defense strategies. But most of them had some degree of hitting back or running away from you opponent. The week after that, she had looked up ways of protecting you face when you're in a fight.

_That_ had worked.

And as her father moved closer, she mentally went over exactly what she had to do, as it would now be especially important. Having friends was a strange-but good-feeling. And hiding her bruises from them had been surprisingly easy.

The difficult thing would be keeping them hidden.

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**Yeah... I should hopefully get updates out faster now that I'm on summer break! *Does stupid looking happy dance* Yay~! *･゜ﾟ･*****:.｡****..｡****.:*･****'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*****)'･*****:.｡****. .｡****.:*･゜ﾟ･***** (Oh and things will get better with Peter and Blood and the Jokers, I promise! ;)**


	9. I Can Almost Feel Bad For Him

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! XD  
Heck yeah! Sorry for the long wait...but guess what?! In the next chapter, the actual plot will begin! So in other words, more stuff is going to happen! WHEEEEEEEEEEE! :)**

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"Ouch!" Alice hissed as someone stomped on her foot. She hugged her things more tightly to her chest and attempted to squeeze between offending person and the lockers.

_...And this is why I always get to school early._

She sighed softly. She really, after all, had no one to blame but herself. She had slept in until there was no hope of getting to school early. Instead, she ended up coming to school at the same time most people ended up getting to school...approximately one minute before the bell rang.

"Excuse me...sorry..._pardon_ me.." She muttered as she unceremoniously shoved her way to her first class. When she finally reached the door, she couldn't contain a soft sigh of relief. At least now she was safe from the hordes of foot-crushing students. She slipped inside as quietly as she could, pausing for a moment to glance at the teacher's desk. She almost dropped her things when she saw that there was a small crowd of people, girls in particular, surrounding it. She couldn't even see the teacher! She shook her head before slipping into her usual seat near the back of the classroom.

_I am _never_ going to get used to this school!_

"Hey, Alice!" She glanced up to see a familiar brown-haired 'knight' slide into the seat next to her.

"Hi, Ace." She responded, not looking up from where she was busy organizing her desk.

_Crap crap crap crap crap... Please don't see._

She moved her head to one side, trying to obscure the left side of her face. Yesterday, she had been too careless. Her father had managed to hit her face, and it was now quite visible. She had checked that morning, and it had been an ugly purple color with a tiny cut following the line of her cheek bone.

_Calm down...just act normally and he might not notice._

She rifled through her papers, quickly finding last night's homework. She pushed the rest of the unneeded papers to edge of her desk, reaching for whatever else she would use.

"Have you heard?" Questioned Ace enthusiastically, leaning toward her.

"Heard what?" Alice frowned, cupping her injured cheek in one hand, as if she were resting her chin on her palm.

"Oh..." His face fell considerably, "Then you haven't...Ah, well, it'll be a surprise!"

Alice was pretty sure she hated surprises. And if said surprises were suggested by Ace...

"I don't that's such a good idea." She said smoothly, glaring at him suspiciously.

"Aw..." He pouted, looking at her sadly for a moment, "But _Alice_~!" He whined.

She glared at him for a moment, before continuing to examine the contents of her desk.

Ace sighed in an exaggerated manor before leaning forward and resting his elbows on her desk, "Your class is going to be _very_ interesting today. There. See? I gave you a hint!" He flashed her his signature grin and stood up, walking toward the door.

_Thank god he's leaving...but what about that surprise?!_

Alice scowled at him, "I don't want a hint, Ace, I want an answer!"

He shrugged, shooting her a look of faux innocence, "Fine than. If you want answers..." He winked at her, "Come to Wonderland."

She crossed her arms over her chest, "And if I don't?"

"Then we'll make you come!" He called cheerfully, "Sorry, Alice, I would love to stay and answer your questions, but I have class...and if I stayed, Julius would call me on it!"

_What? Why...?_

"Julius?"

Ace clamped a gloved hand over his still-grinning mouth and slipped out the door.

_I wonder...what did he mean by, 'Julius'?_

Alice only faintly remembered that one of the members of Wonderland was named Julius, and that only because of his way-to-perfect-to-even-be-real hair and slightly-rude demeanor; he had not seemed to be very happy to meet her at all. But Julius wasn't even in this class; he was one of the older members of Wonderland and seemed rather smart (unlike Ace, who had actually been forced to repeat a couple of his classes), so he most certainly wasn't going to be in her chemistry class.

She hadn't even been aware of staring at teacher's desk until the group of students surrounding him began to disband and walk to their desks, leaving her in full view of the blue-haired man sitting there.

_...I take that back. What is _he_ doing here?!_

She watched in amazement as he began to take role, ignoring the many girls who were making eyes at him.

After he was finished, he shot a quick glare towards the class before standing up and clearing his throat, "Please pass your homework up to the front."

_Is he...our teacher?!_

Alice blinked in surprise, staring at him.

_There's no way... He's much too young!_

"Hey!" She glanced up to see one of her classmates glaring at her impatiently and holding out one hand, palm outstretched. She stared at it blankly for a moment, until the boy sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes, "Your homework. And hurry up about it-Julius gets mad _real _easily ."

As if on cue, Julius cleared his throat, loud enough to be heard of the quiet murmurs of the students.

"Impatient little _bastard_!" The boy hissed under his breath, gesturing impatiently with his hand.

Alice grabbed the homework from last night, quickly holding it out for him to grab. She expected him to make some final jab like 'about time!' but instead he simply snatched it from her and handed up toward the front of the room.

_Can't even spare me enough notice to be an asshole, huh?_

But that was a good thing...wasn't it? After all, that seemed to be her goal in life. Stay quiet. Don't get noticed by too many people. And, most of all, never, ever tell anyone about what happened. She had never broken any of her rules, well, except for now.

And except for...one other time. And, back then, she had payed the price for being so stupid. Whose to say that this time would be any better?

_It won't make a difference anyway...as long as I only break one, no one has to know about anything else, right?_

"Alright, so today's lesson is ridiculously easy. Turn to page 268 in your text book and read the chapter. Then answer the questions. I assume your all capable of doing that?"

Alice glanced up to see Julius standing by the board, looking, well, bored. Murmurs of assent traveled through the classroom, mostly from girls too busy daydreaming about Julius to pay attention to how rude he was being.

_What an annoying guy..._

Once again, she looked around the classroom, this time taking more notice of the students who weren't obviously in love with their teacher. Most of them didn't look happy, but none of them looked confused. It was as if everyone but her had been expecting Julius to be the substitute.

_I guess I have no choice... If I want to find out what's going on, I have to find Ace and ask him..._

This was going to be a long day.

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When the bell rang, everyone (except for the drooling, Julius-obsessed fangirls) stood up in a flurry of papers, eager to get the door.

"Homework is to interview a family member and find out their views on the lesson we just studied! You will write two paragraphs, one on their views (with a signature) and one on your own views!" Their blue-haired teacher yelled before sitting down at the desk and going back to his book, completely ignoring the girls trying to say goodbye to him.

_A family member...?!_

Alice stood up, swallowing hard. She couldn't interview a family member. No way.

_Maybe your allowed to just ask someone random..._

Timidly, she gathered her things and walked toward Julius' desk, where the fangirls had finally dispersed, "Um...Monrey-sensei?"

In answer, he glanced up from his book, raising one eyebrow.

"Are we allowed to interview someone who isn't a family member? A friend, or someone like that?"

"No."

She waited for an explanation, but he remained silent, reading his book.

"Well, why not?!" She couldn't keep the annoyance from her voice; he was being _incredibly_ rude!

She thought she saw a flash of surprise in his eyes at her angry tone, but it was gone in a second, "You are perfectly capable of interviewing someone in your household." He told her coldly, "So why are you asking me to do something different?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but then, realizing she didn't have any excuse that she could tell, snapped it shut again. "Never mind." She murmured finally, "Thank you for your time." She added, before turning and hurrying out the door.

_Who does that guy think he is, anyway?!_

She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn't notice Julius staring after her in confusion, his mouth open as if to ask another question.

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"Ace?" Alice peered through the doorway of the abandoned room were Wonderland met, "Ace, are you in here?"

"_Alice_~!" And suddenly, out of nowhere, someone tackled her to ground with a hug.

"Peter..." She moaned, attempting to disentangle her limbs from the oblivious rabbit-man. She flinched as he made contact with her bruises, which covered her arms and torso, and decorated the top of her cheek. "Ow..." She muttered.

"What's wrong?! Is my beloved Alice hurt?!" Peter gripped her arm, searching her frantically for injuries.

She quickly yanked up the hood of her sweatshirt, hoping that he wouldn't look to closely at her face, "I'm fine! Being slammed into the ground just hurts, you know! Now, please get _off_ of me!"

"I-Is Alice m-mad at me...?" He moved to one side, bending down so that he could look directly into her face, his eyes wide and innocent. His ears flopped down.

_H-He's so cuuuuute... Just like a real bunny... _

She shook her head.

_No! Snap out of it, Alice! It's not a real rabbit! It's not even cute-_

Suddenly, she was hyper-aware of the fact that she was blushing as she stared into his huge, adorable, very red eyes... She sighed and gave in, "I'm not mad. Just get off me."

"Yay~!" He smiled happily and held out a hand to help her up, all the while murmuring something about what a wonderful couple they made.

Ignoring his hand, Alice stood up by herself, using the wall to prop herself up. She was exhausted, and thanks to Julius she was going to have to interview Lorina tonight...or at least get her signature. As for father...it probably wasn't a good idea to even try asking him.

"Come on!" Peter grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the doorway.

"No, Peter I'm not coming inside, I just had to ask-!"

But it was too late. Peter already had the door open, and she was yanked into the room. She tried slip away from him, but he noticed what she was doing and quickly closed the door.

"Peter-!" She snapped angrily, pulling at her hood. She gave the room a quick sweep and, seeing only Boris and Pierce, mentally sighed with relief.

_I just have to get out as fast as possible..._

"Yo, Alice!" Boris stopped chasing Pierce long enough to give her a smile.

"Alice, help me chu~!" Cried the unfortunate mouse-boy, ducking behind one of the dust-covered drum sets.

She waved to them quickly, making sure to keep the left side of her face in shadow, and immediately started trying to get back to the door, "Peter, please open the door. I really need to leave."

He stared at her sadly for a moment before reaching for the door, sensing that she was upset. But before she could make her escape, the door burst open.

"Hi~! Sorry I'm late...I got lost." Ace grinned cheerfully, leaning against one side of the door frame.

_The others will probably be coming soon..._

"Ace, move! I need to get out!" She gave his chest a little push, but to no avail. He remained where he was, only raising an eyebrow at her attempts.

"Don't you want to know why Julius was teaching your class?" He pouted, looking at her sadly.

_I'll just humor him, then maybe he'll let me out! _

"Fine. Tell me. But then you have to move, got it?" She growled, glancing around the room quickly.

He smiled, glad to have won, "Most everyone knows that Julius is the substitute when a teacher gets sick or something unexpected like that...I can't believe you didn't!" He cocked his head to one side, eyeing her curiously, "After all, everyone is always talking about what a genius he is. And he's always complaining about having to go to high school!"

Alice bit her bottom lip in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"His parents made him redo high school, of course! He already went through all the classes, but sense he was so young when he went through, his parents made him go through again when he finished collage." He smirked, "Something about making friends... Not that he's much luck with that..."

"That's..." She stared at him for a moment, overwhelmed by a sudden flash of pity for Julius.

_Being forced to redo school here just so he can meet idiots like Ace...no wonder he's in such a bad mood all the time! _

But then she recalled the way he had acted during class that day.

_Just because your smart, doesn't mean you can act like a jerk to everyone else! _

"That's great, Ace." She murmured quickly, "Thanks for telling me. Now I _really_ have to go now..."

"But Vivaldi said she wants to see you~!"

As if on cue, the purple-haired woman's voice rang out through the hall, "Move, you stupid knight! You're in Our way!"

"Hmm...I wonder if this meeting is going to be more interesting than the last one...?" Another voice mused, barely sparing the occupants of the music room a glance.

_Dammit! Can this get any worse...?_

Blood, Vivaldi, Ace, Peter, Boris, and Pierce...twice as many people as when she had first entered. And they could all end up seeing her face and, therefore, the fact that she had obviously been hit by someone.

"Excuse me, but I have somewhere I need to be!" She said loudly, looking pointedly at Ace.

"Aw...but-!" Suddenly he leaned closer, abandoning his post at the doorway. He looked at her for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together, "Alice? Is there something on your face...?"

"_No_!" She said quickly, pulling on the top of her hood. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, she hurried out of the door.

_That was close..._

She covered her cheek with one hand, taking extra precautions to make sure neither Blood nor Vivaldi saw. As she passed them, she kept her eyes on the floor, ignoring Ace's curious stare burning a hole through the back of her neck.

She was almost to the door when Blood arm snaked out, grabbing her wrist and yanking her hand away from her face.

"What the-!?" She cried out, spinning around to face him.

_No no no no he's going to see, he and Vivaldi are both going to see..._

"Let _go_!" She snapped, pulling against him. "Hey, who do you think you-!" Than, the one thing she was counting on not happening, happened. The hood of her sweatshirt slipped off of her head, leaving her entire face open for inspection. She saw the slight widening of both of their eyes, and could immediately tell that they _knew_.

"You really _do_ have something on your face." Blood commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Alice?" She felt Vivaldi's gentle hand slip onto her free arm, "What happened?" She demanded, frowning slightly.

And suddenly, she was tempted to give in. To slip her hand into Vivaldi's hand and tell her everything. To explain what happened to her mother and her mother's unborn child. To tell her why bruises covered her body with their ugly arrays of purple and yellow.

_But remember what happened last time you told?_

Of course she did. Of course she remembered.

_Which would you rather have, Alice? Two days of someone who knows everything about you, or someone who doesn't know, but at least doesn't hate you! _

As if sensing her hesitation, Vivaldi's hand slipped down towards hers, "What happened?" She repeated her question, less demanding this time, but no less urgent.

"I-" Alice swallowed.

_Remember what happens when you break the rules._

She remembered.

"Nothing." She ripped her hands free of both Vivaldi and Blood's grasp, running down the hall.

Blindly, she hurried down random corridors, not even bothering to take the time to notice where she was running. _Anywhere_ to get away. _Anywhere_ just to make sure that they never found out.

She yanked her hood up and continued running, ignoring the confused yelps and cries of the people she ran into.

_I need to get out of here!_

She forced herself to slow to a walk, acting as if she had every reason to be exiting the school in the middle of the day.

_Just act natural..._

She glanced down at her hoodie and, to her surprise, found little wet splotches dotting the front of it. When she raised her hand to touch her face, she found that it came away wet.

_I'm crying...? Why I am I crying?_

She scrubbed her tears away impatiently, hurrying through the door. Perhaps if walked quickly, she could make it to her part-time job early enough to work an extra shift.

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Black shoved his way impatiently through the crowd of students, searching for his twin.

_Dammit, White, were the f*** did you go?!_

He spotted a familiar red head for a second, before it disappeared into the crowd, "F***!" He hissed, pushing his way forward to move toward where he had last seen White.

Just as he was about to reach the edge of the crowd, a girl slammed into him, sending him careening dangerously to one side.

"Hey!" He shouted at them, "Watch were the _hell_ do you think you're going you motherf***ing-" she glanced quickly over her shoulder, giving him a bare glimpse of her facial features before racing forward again, but a glimpse was all he needed.

_It's the f***ing bitch!_

A muscle in his face twitched slightly, seemingly remembering the time she had completely humiliated him. _Publicly_.

But more importantly, he had registered that from the fact that she was running away from something, her eyes and cheeks wet from tears...

_The little bitch is hiding something._

And he doubted, considering the way she acted, that it was easy to make her cry.

_Something big._

He grinned, suddenly finding himself whistling.

_Something that maybe, just maybe, I can use for my revenge!_

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**So yeah... Black's revenge should be veeeeeeeery helpful for the plot thingy. Fufufufu... But anyway, if you have a character that you think should have a AliceX scene, please tell me cause I'm not sure which to do right now... :( Ah, well... Oh, and if you think I had revealed everything that happened in Alice's past... You were wrong! MHA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA! XD So that should be revealed...eventually. But anyways, I'm happy to be back on here! Yay! 3 3**


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